Magna considers buying Volvo, Land Rover
Automotive supplier, manufacturer and component maker Magna is said to be considering purchasing Land Rover and Volvo.
Parent company Ford confirmed that Land Rover was up for sale in June, and it would be open to offers for its Swedish subsidiary, too.
Magna was one of several firms interested in purchasing Chrysler from Daimler earlier in the year, but failed to buy it. Magna has strong links with Chrysler, and builds many cars, including the 300C, in Austria.
But Magna does also supply components to Land Rover, including the transfer box for the Discovery.
And while it has been thought that Land Rover would be sold as a package with Jaguar, as the two firms share many components, including engines, there are many links between Land Rover and Volvo.
The Discovery, for example, uses electrical components shared with the XC90, while the latest Freelander uses switchgear and other drivetrain parts from the Swedish 4x4.
It is thought that Magna would be especially interested in Land Rover's Solihull and Halewood factories, and Volvo's plants at Ghent in Blegium and Torslanda in Sweden. These are not currently running at full capacity.

Sounds interesting. I also read that the Wallenbergs might be interested in buying Volvo. We'll see what happens...

^thats good..keep it swedish

This story is getting very annoying. At last can we know where Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover are going to end?

PS. Guys i swear: If Volvo is bought by chinese or french i will sell my S60

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Potential bidders for the Jaguar and Land Rover labels have only until July 19 to submit their offers. Analysts are predicting that both brands will be sold as a single unit and that a final buyer could be announced in Ford’s second-quarter figures due by the end of the month, reports The Times.
Potential bidders are rumored to include private-equity groups Cerberus, Blackstone and One Equity, the latter with former Ford CEO Jac Nasser in its ranks. According to sources close to the deal, the final sale is still some time away despite next week’s deadline.
To protect staff, unions have release demands for any sale agreement including maintaining production at three UK plants for the next five years, a long-term commitment for R&D at the Gaydon and Whitley sites, and a 10-year contract for Ford’s UK plants to engines and castings.

Ford seeks to offload Volvo in $8bn sale


FORD is preparing to sell Volvo, the Swedish car group it bought eight years ago, in a move that could raise $8 billion (£3.9 billion) for the struggling Detroit giant.
City sources say that a decision in principle to sell Volvo was taken a fortnight ago, but that the timing of the sale had yet to be decided. No bank had been appointed to handle the transaction.
Volvo is the flagship of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG), a stable of luxury European marques it built up during an expansionist phase in the 1980s and 1990s.
It began dismantling the group last year when it faced a bleak financial situation in its core business. It sold Aston Martin earlier this year in a deal worth £479m, and this week it will receive indicative bids for Jaguar and Land Rover, the two other British members of the PAG. The pair, which are being sold as a single business, are expected to fetch up to £1 billion.
Volvo is larger than Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover. It employs 27,500 people and makes about 500,000 cars a year at plants in Swe-den and Belgium. Britain is its third-largest market after America and Swe-den. It made its name as a maker of sensible, safe cars, although in recent years it has adopted a sportier image.
While the PAG as a whole loses money – $327m last year on sales of $30 billion – Volvo is understood to be profitable. Ford does not disclose separate figures for the Swedish group, but analysts have speculated that it made about $500m last year. Ford paid $6.95 billion for Volvo in 1999, buying it from AB Volvo, the truck maker.
Analysts estimated Ford might receive $8 billion in a sale, but pointed out that the dollar had weakened in the intervening years.
A sale of Volvo would, like the disposal of Jaguar and Land Rover, be complicated by the level of integration built up between Ford and its divisions. Volvo and Ford models share common components and designs, while Volvo supplies electronic and safety systems to Ford plants.
Automotive industry sources said the timing and speed of the sale would depend on the level of interest that came from rival carmakers and private-equity groups.
“If they have a good offer from a Western carmaker, they would be able to move fast, because the integration issues can be sorted out quite quickly. But if it’s private equity, it will all need to be worked out in advance so they can do their normal due diligence,” said one source.
Renault, which planned a tie-up with Volvo before the Swedish firm was sold to Ford, could be a bidder, while other automotive bankers believe BMW, Hyundai or a Chinese manufacturer may be in the running.
“They are getting a lot of people coming to them with ideas because Volvo is an attractive asset. If they get the right one they could act quickly,” the source said.
Ford, which reports its interim figures next week, declined to comment. It said it had announced a strategic review last year and that no decision had been taken on the future of Volvo.
The company, which like all the Detroit giants is facing crippling pension and healthcare costs and tough foreign competition, is in the middle of a turnround plan devised by chief executive Alan Mulally and chairman Bill Ford.
Last year Ford lost $12.7 billion – equivalent to nearly $7 for every Ford share. It now has a stock-market value of $16.3 billion, with the shares closing last week at $8.97. The sale of Jaguar and Land Rover will take a step forward this week with indicative offers from a group of buyout firms.
Those involved with the discussions say Ford has imposed strict conditions of secrecy on would-be bidders, even to the point of vetting potential advisers. “They are completely paranoid about leaks,” said one person close to the talks.
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(AP) Ford Motor Co. is preparing to sell Volvo, a British newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Times, citing unnamed sources in London, said the decision to sell Volvo, which is part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, was made in the past two weeks, but that the timing of the sale had yet to be decided.

No bank had been appointed to handle the transaction, the newspaper said, adding the deal could be worth $8 billion.

Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt on Sunday said the company wasn't commenting on speculation about Volvo's future.

Ford acquired Volvo from Sweden's Volvo AB in 1999 for $6.45 billion.

Last month, Ford said it was reviewing its position on Jaguar and Land Rover, fueling speculation that company was getting closer to selling the fellow Premier Automotive Group brands.

Ford sold Aston Martin, another part of the Premier Automotive Group, for $848 million in March, with some analysts saying the luxury brand did not fit into Ford's long-term survival plan. That plan includes cost savings by developing multiple models worldwide on the same underpinnings.

The possible sale of Volvo comes as the company is struggling to return to profitability in the face of fierce competition from Asian automakers and developing tastes for more fuel-efficient models in its key North American market. It is slashing thousands of jobs and plans to close plants to cut costs.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford posted a narrower loss of $282 million for the first quarter. The Premier Automotive Group reported a record pretax profit of $402 million for the quarter, due largely to Volvo.

And Ford has been relying on Volvo, an analyst has said, as it tries to globalize its engineering, design and manufacturing systems.

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Think it's true? We'll find out soon enough...

Ford is making a mistake by selling Volvo IMO. It is the only bright spot they have out of all their foreign brands.

M

I think Ford has made the right decision to sell Volvo now when the company is actually worth something. Volvo has a questionable future and Ford knows it, they want to sell the ship before it start sinking.

At the moment Volvo's bread and butter is the XC90 which is their only car which compete well against it's German counter parts. In the US the XC90 is actually selling as much at the X5 and ML. The car has been on the market for over 4 years and the sales will start declining signifigantly the coming years and will suffer even more with the introduction of the Q5 and BLK.

The S80 and V70 sales are so and so, simply far from satisfying. The S60 is outdated big time and needs to be replaced ASAP. The S40 will just like the XC90 will be replaced in 3 years.

Basically 3 model needs to be replaced in the coming year while Volvo also need to compete in new segments by developing new model, this while at the same time battling with declining sales through out the line up.

Volvo needs an investor with a lot of capita which Ford at the moment doesn't have.

I disagree I guess because Volvo can help them a great deal in turning things around. At this rate Ford won't have any brands even worth mentioning. Without Aston, Volvo, LR and Jaguar you'll have just Ford, Lincoln and Mercury. You may as well start planning the funeral for the Ford Motor Company now because they're pretty clueless about how to turn around their core brands. It is a shame though that nobody want Land Rover and Jaguar. Respected nameplates, but business basket cases. I really don't see how they can sell off Volvo completely with so much part sharing going on.

As bleak as you make Volvo's future sound they still have a brighter outlook than do Land Rover or Jaguar.

M