Although most of the news lately has been on General Motors’ new car brand fire sale, Ford has been quietly shopping around its Swedish Volvo unit. News comes today that executives from China’s Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corporation (BAIC) are touring Volvo’s Gothenburg, Sweden, headquarters, with the intention of deciding whether to make a bid for the automaker.
A team from BAIC is set to tour the headquarters and research and development facilities, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Analysts told Reuters that the Chinese are probably more interested in acquiring technologies and assets at a bargain price, rather than taking over entire automakers – not to mention the government is attempting to consolidate its own auto industry.
“Don’t take the reports seriously. Lots of so called Chinese interest are leaked by investment bankers and lawyers trying to drum up deals,” said Zhang Xin, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities.
“BAIC doesn’t even have a in-house design car brand so far,” another unnamed source said. “How can anyone realistically expect it to take over and turn around Opel or Volvo ?”
BAIC builds cars for Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz at joint venture facilities in China. It has long said it wanted to become a full automaker producing unique products, not just a constructor, and acquiring Volvo for a low price could be its way into the market, however.
