Ford Motors has inked a $1.8b agreement to sell its Swedish subsidiary Volvo to Geely. This sale, widely regarded as a sign that the world’s car industry’s centre of gravity is shifting to East Asia, marks China’s largest foray into the ownership of a luxury brand. This deal follows other similar acquisitions such as MG Rover and IBM’s personal computing arm.
Ford has been systematically unwinding its European Premier Auto Group, first selling Aston Martin in 2007 to a British-led consortium, Jaguar Land Rover to Tata of India in 2008, and now to Geely in 2010.
Geely says it will free the ‘tiger’ in Volvo [Financial Times, 29 Mar 2010]
Ford sells Volvo to Chinese car maker Geely for $1.8bn [Telegraph UK, 28 Mar 2010]
Devolving Volvo [The Economist, 28 Mar 2010]
