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Volvo for sale?

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That is what Ford is now claiming. They are looking for a buyer for Volvo.
And it is pretty sad. I thought Ford had done really good with Volvo in the past few years.

I am not sure who would be interested now. At some point Renault was. Years ago.
Now the Swedish government is saying they could be willing to nationalize both Volvo and Saab.
I think this is actually not a bad idea.

What do you think?
Who should get Volvo???

Conversation 18 comments

  1. Why would nationalizing Volvo and Saab be “actually not a bad idea” Vince? Can you name any consumer products company run by any government anywhere that produced state of the art products. Didn’t think so.

    Nationalizing ANYTHING is a bad idea, but a car company? Hell, if they did that the chinese will blaze by the swedes by 2012 and not look back.

  2. Yeah exactly… look at what the German government did to there car industry… yikes! Good luck Sweden.

  3. I think Renault-Nissan would be a good home for Volvo – the brand is halfway b/w the mainstream Renault/Nissan cars and the premium Infiniti cars, and would complement the range well.

  4. I can see Volvo being a good fit with Honda. They have hardly any overlap, and Honda can benefit from Volvo in terms of design and safety…Volvo in return can improve their fuel efficiency and engines, plus Honda immediately has a global luxury brand, which could save them in dumping money to spiff up Acura as a global luxury brand.

  6. maybe indirectly that would work as well here as in Japan – – some of the U.S.’s zaibatsu’s/keiretsu’s, you know the oil/bank strange-bedfellows, could funnel some of their gov’mint pal’s billions into the automaker of their choice?
    Might do some good for the average family for a change…

  7. I think Volvo lost money the last couple of years, Ford just can’t focus on anything but 2 core brands which I think will come down to Ford and Lincoln. I don’t see mercury surviving, modeling their business after toyota no doubt.

    Nationalized auto company, will the EU allow it? I tend to not think so after the VW’s problems in germany.

    I hope with all of these ford sales they keep some connection with these companies, ford has benefited from volvo safety, mazda enginering, etc etc….

  8. Can you imagine the parasites Barney Frank and Chris Dodd running anything? Sweden would be worse at it.

  9. Renault or BMW, or even Honda.
    NOT the goverment!
    Saab could be bought out by the
    government-that’s understandable,
    but don’t let them ruin Volvo!

  10. Volvo used to build reliable cars until Ford took it over. So, I am glad it is for sale. Who should buy it? Well…the countries with future, like China and India. But, I doubt the Swedish government will let Volvo and Saab go. So, let me see, after Ford sells Volvo what is left to showcase….I wonder…I wonder…

  12. I agree with the last post – Mazda seems to be the only company that needs a global premium brand right now, plus they might have the money. They share platforms with Ford and Volvo, of course, so this transfer would make sense in alot of ways.

    The only thinkable alternative would be RenaultNissan, but they have Infinity. Maybe Infinity could be their sportive premium brand, whereas Volvo would slot as their academic/solid/safety premium brand.

    Nationalization of a car brand has never been a solution in the long term. Sachsenring and/or Wartburg are bad example in this respect, as this happened in GDR times. Though nationalization offers the possibility of some kind of stability, but it always leads to mediocre products. Looks at Renault in the 80s British and – even worse – Leyland in the 70s.

  13. The last comments about Mazda buying Volvo… very interesting. The Japanese model of Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infiniti and Honday/Acura might be successful for Mazda as well! And since they already share some platforms and components… Well, they get my vote!

  15. Since Mazda has money again, having Volvo as a “ready made” luxury brand would work for them! This time they don’t have to worry about running out of money to try to develop a luxo brand from scratch. The only thing we got out of that first try was the Millenia and the death of the 929.

  18. Mazda needs Volvo like it needs a third nostril.

    Mazda had plans to create a prestige brand (the AMATI) in the early 1990s, but dropped the idea when Mazda over-expanded and suffered losses from which Ford saved the company (Ford was rich then).

    Would be better to just add a “near-luxury” Mazda model instead of buying Volvo for its name.

    Of course, the Volvo S40 is Mazda-based, but I’d guess that most people aren’t aware of that. There’s no synergy between a Japanese and a Swedish brand that makes any sense at all.

    Think about the Saab 9-2 which was a Saab-badged Subaru with a Saab-styled snout on it. A fine car, but confusing and stupid.

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