New York Times: Ford in Talks to Sell Volvo to Chinese Rival, Report Says. Ford Motor is in talks to sell its Volvo car business to its Chinese partner, Changan Automobile Group, the National Business Daily reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed source at the Chinese company.
OK. The country that gave us melamine milk, pet food and candy may also acquire the automotive brand synonymous with product safety? I’ll believe it when it actually happens, but I see nothing but a total destruction of goodwill. I already don’t trust the Volvo brand as much under the care of Ford. I will trust it even less in the hands of a Chinese automotive company. Trust is earned, not purchased or sold. If you want to be the caretaker of the Volvo brand, you need to share their same passion for driver and passenger safety. Otherwise, you are just producing knock-offs.
One response to “Chinese Auto Safety”
I suppose if you hadn’t been paying too much attention to the reality of automotive safety for the last decade you’d say that Volvo was “synonymous with product safety.” But if you’d followed Volvo closely since its takeover by Ford you would know that the Swedish firm’s attention to safety had waned, for financial reasons. Volvo has not proceeded with at least one safety system it used to say was essential — automatic crash response similar to what GM has with OnStar — because Ford had to stick to “essentials” during its last financial crisis. The safety ship sailed from Goteborg about five years ago.