Ford to sell Volvo? Yup - let’s sell off a profitable division!
Ford has decided to sell the most profitable
company in their Premier Group.
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.
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-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.
Although Ford wouldn’t answer any questions about putting Volvo up for sale [over the weekend], they issued a non-denial denial, this morning: A Ford spokesman blathered, ” “To my knowledge, we are not in negotiations with anyone about the future of Volvo.”
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-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.
Although Ford wouldn’t answer any questions about putting Volvo up for sale [over the weekend], they issued a non-denial denial, this morning: A Ford spokesman blathered, ” “To my knowledge, we are not in negotiations with anyone about the future of Volvo.”
Posted: Mon - July 16, 2007 at 06:55 AM