Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Chairman Li Shufu recently had this to say about Volvo and its $1.8 billion purchase from Ford Motor Company: "A tiger belongs to the forest. It belongs to the wild world and not confined in a zoo. We need to liberate this tiger." Anyone else see the irony?
According to Autonews, Li was referring to Volvo's dependence on Europe for production and Europe and North America for the most part of its sales.
Geely's chairman believes that this issue will be solved by building a factory in Beijing, China, that will make 300,000 Volvo cars a year, or about the same amount the automaker currently produces at its plants in Sweden and Belgium
Chairman Li has big plans for his Swedish brand, going on to say:
"I see China as one of the markets where Volvo could show us it has the opportunity to liberate itself and show the potential that is has. That is the rational for the deal. We want to stabilize the brand in the traditional markets of Europe and North America and, at the same time, develop our business in emerging markets including China."
The deal with FoMoCo should be wrapped up in the third quarter of 2010, but we'll have to wait to see how Chinese ownership actually affects the once-proud Meatball.
- By Phil Alex
Via: Autonews
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