Over the past few months, rumors have intensified about the sale of Ford’s three remaining premier automotive brands — Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo. With BMW out of the running for Volvo, Renault has emerged as a leading candidate, Swedish daily Dagens Industri has reported.
The report did not elaborate on the talks between Ford and Renault, but indicated Volvo was the only brand the French automaker was interested in. Shortly after rumors recirculated about the sale of Ford’s three PAG brands, Renault-Nissan denied an interest in buying Jaguar and Land Rover, but did not mention Volvo.
Earlier this year, BMW is believed to have considered acquiring Volvo in order to share front-wheel-drive technology and production facilities with its Mini brand, thus increasing profitability. The German luxury maker ultimately decided against the idea, however.
Implications
The implications of an acquisition of Volvo by Renault are hard to predict. In its current role at Ford, Volvo is limited from moving too far up-market due to Jaguar and Land Rover.
At Renault, there would be less conflict of interest between Volvo and other auto brands. Of course, given Renault’s close ties to Nissan, there could be some overlap between Infiniti and Volvo.
Volvo might actually have the most room to grow if it stays with Ford, assuming Jaguar and Land Rover are sold. As Ford’s most premium automaker, Volvo would be free to compete fully with Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.
AB Volvo interested?
AB Volvo — which sold Volvo Cars to Ford ten years ago and currently builds commercial trucks — is also interested in acquiring a stake in Volvo, according to the Dagens Industri story. The company is interested in a 10-20 percent share, the report said.
Jag, Land Rover likely to go as package
While recent reports indicate Ford is looking to sell its entire PAG (Premier Automotive Group), the three remaining companies are unlikely to go to the same buyer. If sold, Volvo will probably go to one buyer, and Land Rover and Jaguar to another.
Most recently, it was reported that Cerberus Capital Management — the company that recently agreed to buy the Chrysler Group from Daimler-Benz — is now interested in buying Jaguar and Land Rover.
Renault-Nissan and private equity firm Alchemy Partners have denied an interest. Italian automaker Fiat is said to have looked at both companies, but also decided not to proceed.
06/20, 10:08 AM
posted by:
mbgg099
volvo and nissan-renault, wow, i wonder how that would work out, the safest, no risk taking designs, and the most out there designs in the industry in the same big family. They’re all great (except renault).
06/20, 10:21 AM
posted by:
global_lightning
This may be another way for Renault to return to the US market. We already have the Versa, which shares a lot of engineering with the Renault Clio. They also gain Volvo’s engineering and sales network.
You’ll have Infinity/Volvo/Nissan in the US, Volvo/Renault/Citroen in Europe. It makes sense.
06/20, 10:25 AM
posted by:
Eurolion
@global_lightning, Citroën has nothing to do with Renault, it belongs to Peugeot, under the PSA group umbrella.
06/20, 10:40 AM
posted by:
Stuart
Whats next, ford up for sale?
06/20, 10:47 AM
posted by:
Mitch Bangowitz
Oh why doesn’t Donand Trump or Walmart just buy up all the car companies….sheesshhh
or how about Starbucks
06/20, 10:55 AM
posted by:
Syrax
Volvo-Renault-Nissan? No.
06/20, 11:17 AM
posted by:
Kenny W
What is it with Renault-Nissan wanting a third partner? First GM, then they went to Ford, then they went [i]back[/i] to Ford, now they want to just buy Volvo. Why do they desire a third partner so much?
06/20, 11:17 AM
posted by:
Kenny W
heh, apparently html tags don’t work.
06/20, 12:01 PM
posted by:
buenos
Starbuck’s buying Volvo. I like that one.. then they could rename all the controls into Starbucks-speak, and they could put in a voice track that would yell everything you did back at you. To turn the heat on you could use voice commands like ordering a half-caf-half-decaf double capaccino low-foam latte…
06/20, 12:25 PM
posted by:
Impulsive
… it’s Infiniti with an ‘i’ … get it right.
06/20, 1:49 PM
posted by:
gbb
Good fit. Do it!
06/20, 4:30 PM
posted by:
LP640
renault and volvo??? no way not in a million years. renault are terrible they would just destroy volvo.
06/20, 5:11 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
No…no…no! Damn it, Ford, do not sell Volvo at any cost, they’re too worthy to be sold. Get rid of Jaguar and Land Rover though and a lot of problems will go away, that’s for damn sure.
06/20, 5:20 PM
posted by:
TomF
Sell Ford North America, Jaguar, and Land Rover. Keep Volvo, Ford Europe and Ford Australia.
06/20, 6:50 PM
posted by:
CTS DRIVER
man i cant wait to buy a le volvo
06/20, 7:07 PM
posted by:
masrkitos
Renault needs a luxury brand, dunno if this is the right one.
I can tell you one thing, if renault buys volvo expect some pretty fast and agile volvos, not the dull ones we see today.
06/20, 7:32 PM
posted by:
2008PowerStrokeF450Lariat
doesn’t anything exciting happen anymore on LLN?
06/20, 10:45 PM
posted by:
RicardoHead
Comment by Mitch Bangowitz:
>> “Oh why doesn’t Donand Trump or Walmart just buy up all the car
>> companies … sheesshhhor how about Starbucks?
Oh yeah, I could just see a Navuccino System and a 6-speed AutoLatte trannie on the option menu. God starbucks is lame.
06/20, 10:49 PM
posted by:
waywardboi
Sorry PowerStrokeF450 but i have noticed that “exciting” on this sight pretty much amounts to a bunch of racist comments sad to say but i kinda like all this “boring auto talk the racist comments are a real turn off and some people on here seem as though they wait for it. I’m sure you have seen it ( Pontiac’s in 5o Cents video, rims with lights…etc ) some Americans are really embarresing
06/20, 10:55 PM
posted by:
waywardboi
And as for the auto talk FORD PLEASE DONT SELL VOLVO it and Mazda are your best brands. Sell Jaguar and Land Rover and spend the money on the rear drive platform Lincoln needs.
06/21, 1:02 AM
posted by:
TOZO
What the hell do BMW, Renault, & Volvo Truck “see” in Volvo??? Whatever it is, if it’s that big of a deal, Ford needs to keep Volvo. If the competitors get their hands on it, they’ll use it as a weapon to cripple the competition….competitors like – Ford!
06/21, 4:48 AM
posted by:
fan
in a way, Volvo and Starbucks would even fit together, perception-wise…
06/21, 8:03 AM
posted by:
global_lightning
The Volvo/Starbucks/Apple Computer/Pottery Barn/Barnes & Noble global conglomerate will conquer all!
@ Eurolion: Oops, I haven’t been tracking the French auto business for a while
06/21, 12:51 PM
posted by:
Get Real
A back-door way into the USA market.
Renault knows NOBODY here in their sane mind would buy one of their “fall-a-part” cars.
They could hide their product under the “Volvo” name and sell it here.
06/21, 5:15 PM
posted by:
Eurolion
French cars aren’t fall-a-part anymore, tehy’re pretty close to the germans nowadays, I can understand why you say it, it’s like us europeans saying that your cars handle like **** and have 3rd world ergonomics and plastics inside, it’s like looking at ehat has been done in the past and assuming it as if it’s continuing.
06/23, 9:34 PM
posted by:
GcoupèJoe
Better Renault than Chrysler….