New Chinese Company Going For Volvo

The global financial crisis continues its efforts towards turning the industrial world upside down. In the latest Scandinavian case another Chinese car maker – Beijing Motors – has joined the fray for ownership of renowned Swedish auto brand Volvo's passenger-car division, the currently Ford-owned Volvo PV. The Gothenburg-based auto division is already negotiating with another Chinese automaker, Geely.

According to U.S. news agency Bloomberg several top Beijing Motors executives are already on their way to Sweden to take a good look at factory conditions and the general accounting situation, and Swedish media are eagerly awaiting what happens next. Ford – the current owner –wants 2 billion USD for the company, whose sales have been struggling for some time. That price is only a third of what the American auto juggernaut paid for Volvo PV ten years ago.

Beijing Motors has previously tried its luck on the European car-manufacturing scene, but so far with very little success. A bid for another Swedish carmaker, Saab, failed miserably and the Chinese company was also recently handed a slap in the face by General Motors, when the now defunct U.S. auto legend refused to hand over control of the German car brand Opel to the Beijing-based auto group.