Koenigsegg officially purchased the Saab brand from General Motors earlier this week and it looks as though another Swedish automaker could soon be off the market. Reports surfaced earlier on Thursday that China’s Geely has signed a letter of intend to buy the Volvo brand from Ford .
According to China’s Shenzhen News, Geely has inked a deal with Ford to purchase the Volvo brand. Citing unnamed government officials, the Chinese news outlet said an initial agreement is in place, although several details – such as transfer of technology – were still under negotiation.
Under the terms of the deal Geely will reportedly invest up to $10 billion in the Volvo brand, including moving most of the Swedish automaker’s design and production operations to China. The next-generation XC90 – due out sometime around 2011 – could be the first Geely-penned Volvo model.
However, Shenzhen News’ report should be taken with a grain of salt. Chinese news outlets aren’t exactly known for their accuracy and several other Chinese automakers – such as Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corporation (BAIC) – have been named as potential Volvo buyers.
Ford responded to the reports by saying “reports of such a sale by any media outlet are speculative and, therefore, are not accurate”, but all automakers tend to deny any sale rumors until a final deal is in place.
