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Ford to sell Volvo to BMW??

grober said:
Rumour has it BMW are casting their eyes over VOLVOS books at the moment and tales of a possible sale abound. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b7d4f906-0a...uid=e8477cc4-c820-11db-b0dc-000b5df10621.html
Maybe Cris Bangle is looking for INSPIRATION from old volvo models to design even uglier cars. Has anyone seen my Lego ?? :rolleyes:
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Hmm, BMW's last foray into a front drive manufacturer wasn't successful (Rover). Also many of ford's new engine and chassis platforms are based on Volvo developments, and it would lose them the safety and design centre in sweden.

Now, Jaguar I could understand...
 
Volvo needs massive investment that Ford just doesn't have - and the payoffs in the other direction just haven't been as good as hoped (which is probably true of the whole of Premier Auto Group).

BMW have had a eye cast on VAG for a while - the whole industry admires how they have managed to incorporate multiple brands at the lower end with minimal impact. The failure with Rover wasn't down to FWD, it was a bad product with a brand that was irrecoverable. Volvo has a solid brand presence and doesn't tread too much into BMW areas, so you can see how that would work.

However, I still wouldn't buy either...
 
Interesting to compare the price of Volvo parts to MB

Anti roll bar link Volvo £66 MB £7.90

Rear flexi brake pipes Volvo £70 pair MB £18

Ign key Volvo £200 MB £143

In Sweden Volvo give a 40% discount on car parts 10 years old, not in the UK
 
television said:
Interesting to compare the price of Volvo parts to MB
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Having owned two modern volvos, I was surprised at the MB parts prices being so low. However the labour rate is higher (not that it matters, my cars are not generally main dealer serviced).
 
timskemp said:
Hmm, BMW's last foray into a front drive manufacturer wasn't successful (Rover). Also many of ford's new engine and chassis platforms are based on Volvo developments, and it would lose them the safety and design centre in sweden.

Now, Jaguar I could understand...
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It's obviously all about synergy.:rolleyes:

The kind that meant while BMW had Rover they were developing the X5 and their saloons on completely different platforms from the 75 and Range Rover that were in development at the time.
 
television said:
Thats interesting news, did Ford have any luck in selling Aston with Land Rover
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Some dewy eyed idiots bought it, but the idea that such a make can stand alone and survive as a profitable entity in the modern age is almost certainly flawed.

Most of the super luxury brands are either not really profitable or are heavily subsidised 'halo' brands for mass car makers.
Rolls to BMW
Bentley to VW
Lambo to VW
Jaguar and for a while Aston to Ford
and aren't Ferrari Fiat ?

As for BMW and Volvo, it has long been rumoured that BMW are worried that MINI cannot stand alone with such a tiny product range. Merge or die. So they merge with Volvo so smaller Volvos can gain economies with the eventual Mini range. But what of the bigger Volvos? The XC90 competes in the £30k plus market like the X3 and X5. The bigger estates compete with the 3 and 5 series estates -not quite directly as there is an image difference but same sort of price bracket. Hard to see huge gains from this one. Do we end up with beemers and Volvos having the same engines, gearboxes, transmissions and chassis, all in the name of economies of scale. But then why bother? You can dilute both brands. Not an easy one.
 
I wonder if we will see the re-emergence of the larger Granada type vehicle?

John
 
glojo said:
I wonder if we will see the re-emergence of the larger Granada type vehicle?

John
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Interesting to see if Ford ever go back to that. I owned several Granadas in succession. Good cars. BUT Ford wrecked their own market by heavy discounting and over supply, and I found it cheaper to run Mercedes because of residuals.
 
glojo said:
I wonder if we will see the re-emergence of the larger Granada type vehicle?
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New Mondeo is bigger than the Granada.

(I've got a feeling even the last one was about the same size).
 
Rory said:
New Mondeo is bigger than the Granada.

(I've got a feeling even the last one was about the same size).
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:) I just knew it would get that response, and I tried to avoid it by saying a larger vehicle.

Surely the three Ford main sizes were small medium and the old large? When Ford bought Volvo we saw the end of the executive (large) range of Ford motor cars. Yes the Mondeo is biggish but it is not the equivalent of what we call the executive size. The old Escort is the Focus, the Mondeo the Cortina\Sierra and Granada has gone ;)

Years ago the Cortina would be the C-class along with the estate version, then the Granada would be the E-class along with its estate car equivalent. Volvo would always compete with the 240 = Cortina, 940/960 = Granada.

Volkswagen have the Passat?? and the executive is the Phaeton? What has Ford got?

John
 
hawk20 said:
As for BMW and Volvo, it has long been rumoured that BMW are worried that MINI cannot stand alone with such a tiny product range. Merge or die. So they merge with Volvo so smaller Volvos can gain economies with the eventual Mini range. But what of the bigger Volvos? The XC90 competes in the £30k plus market like the X3 and X5. The bigger estates compete with the 3 and 5 series estates -not quite directly as there is an image difference but same sort of price bracket. Hard to see huge gains from this one. Do we end up with beemers and Volvos having the same engines, gearboxes, transmissions and chassis, all in the name of economies of scale. But then why bother? You can dilute both brands. Not an easy one.
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And that's why BMW (and others) have long cast an eye at VAG and how they have managed to expand vertically (in terms of price/prestige) without diluting the impact of the Audi / VW brands (although some may argue that VW has drifted slightly). Volvo would be a "second tier" for BMW, but would allow for platform and component sharing once the investment in development has been made.
 
glojo said:
:) I just knew it would get that response, and I tried to avoid it by saying a larger vehicle.

Surely the three Ford main sizes were small medium and the old large? When Ford bought Volvo we saw the end of the executive (large) range of Ford motor cars. Yes the Mondeo is biggish but it is not the equivalent of what we call the executive size. The old Escort is the Focus, the Mondeo the Cortina\Sierra and Granada has gone ;)

Years ago the Cortina would be the C-class along with the estate version, then the Granada would be the E-class along with its estate car equivalent. Volvo would always compete with the 240 = Cortina, 940/960 = Granada.

Volkswagen have the Passat?? and the executive is the Phaeton? What has Ford got?

John
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Ford has got nothing because IMO it deserves nothing in large cars. When the Granada Ghia was about £25k, they were driving them round the car park till they had 20 miles on the clock and then selling them for around £14k in the secondhand market. Just dumping surplus production and ruining their customers' residuals. I remember it was cheaper to run an E class than many Ford models because the depreciation was so huge. And they have done it to Jaguar in the US.

Just like Mercedes recently wrecked residuals on the outgoing CL model, by producing too many in the last year and some dealers were selling them for £25k off list with only 1000 miles on the clock. That is £25,000 off list of £75,000. I posted examples on one forum. I just hope Mercedes do not follow Ford too far down this road. When the facelifted E class came out, my dealer was selling brand new, pre face-lift E's for £4k off.

Recently there was £11k off the SL500 from DrivetheDeal.com
 
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