Ford to sell Volvo
A British newspaper just reported that Ford Motor Company is preparing to sell Volvo. This is according to unnamed sources in London. The source also says that Ford made this decision within the past 2 weeks. However, the timing of the sale had yet to be decided. As such, no bank has yet been appointed to handle the transaction, which could be worth $8 billion - $2 billion more than what they had paid Sweden’s Volvo AB for it.
This comes after having sold Aston Martin for $848 million in March. Then in June Ford said that it was reviewing its position on Jaguar and Land Rover. Analysts say that these things are because these vehicles do not fit into Ford’s long-term survival plan, which includes cost savings by developing multiple models worldwide on the same underpinnings. It has also been stated that Ford is struggling to return to profitability in the face of fierce competition from Asian automakers and people who are starting to want more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Ford has already terminated thousands of people’s jobs as it is closing plants in order to cut costs. In fact, in Dearborn, Michigan alone Ford posted a loss of $282 million for the first quarter.