An Interesting Development

Having just been into my local Volvo dealer yesterday, and hearing from this gentlemen that nothing has changed because the Chinese now own Volvo, I was a little shocked to read this. Although following this matter in some manner, not closely enough to ascertain the validity of the comment. I had intended today to take a look and see what I could dig up on the status of this news, and PRESTO! Autoblog to the rescue. Seems like we have a group of former auto execs that would like a stab at this, and kudos to them, I expect, if the deal is structured in real time scenarios, and with reasonable expectation, this will be a good business for them to rebuild. Volvo has been consistently and good performer of late and could excel under the watch of some fresh eyes. I'll keep watching this.

REPORT: U.S consortium now in lead for Volvo purchase

by Jeremy Korzeniewski (RSS feed) on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 3:40PM

Just about a month ago, news hit the interwebs that Chinese automaker Geely officially became Ford's preferred bidder for Volvo once concerns over intellectual property were sorted out. Today, though, we're hearing that Crown, a consortium led by former Ford director Michael Dingman, former Ford and Chrysler LLC executive Shamel Rushwin and ex-Volvo CEO Roger Holtback, is gaining momentum in its bid for the Swedish automaker after submitting a revised proposal.

If reports from The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are accurate, Crown's new bid is "on par" with Geely's $1.8 billion offer and is backed by both Swedish and Chinese investors and banks. Not surprisingly, Ford has yet to comment on the speculation, though it has said that talks with Geely are already at an advanced stage. Stay tuned.

[Sources: The Wall Street Journal; Reuters]