No Progress in Volvo - Geely Talks

Geely is still in play to take over the Swedish unit Volvo but parent company Ford said the two sides haven't made progress in the talks. Ford's CEO Allan Mulally said at the opening of the new plant in Chongqing, Southwest China that the US-based manufacturer wants to sell Volvo because it wants to focus solely on Ford's business and not because poor performance in the auto sector, Xinhua News Agency informed.

"Volvo is a good brand, but Ford will sell it in order to shift its main focus on developing the Ford brand," said Mulally last week.

A few days ago, a different piece of news revealed that negotiations between Ford and Geely came to a halt but, more importantly, the two companies have signed a confidentiality agreement. This is probably the main reason why we still don't have nothing confirmed on Geely's involvement in the Volvo race, as the Chinese automaker always refuses to comment on this particular subject.

Earlier this year it was revealed that the involved parties are hoping to sell Volvo by December but, taking into account the current state of negotiations, this is highly unlikely. "Ford has a slower pace than GM and Saab and we expect a sale will be completed in the latter part of the year," Swedish industry ministry state secretary Joeran Haegglund said back in August.

Previous coverage on the subject indicated that Geely agreed to invest up to $2 billion in the Swedish unit. Furthermore, the company was willing to construct a new plant in China to build Volvos locally and bring a team of Chinese engineers in Sweden to collaborate with their local counterparts.