Ford Exploring Sale of Volvo to BMW

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070528/bs_nm/ford_volvo_dc

In a related story, Bill Ford, Jr. is said to be exploring the sale of his mother, Martha, to a glue factory. During an interview at his home, while standing near a half empty keg of beer, Ford said, "she doesn't weigh that much, so it's not worth selling her by the pound. But several boutiques expressed an interest, once I pitched the idea. We've basically run out of things to sale or mortgage. So as much as I'll miss 'Mom', I feel this is best for the shareholders."

When a company is losing as much per day as Ford is, I guess anything they can do to minimise those losses should really be considered :p :

they'll be stuffed in europe if they let go of Volvo, bizarrely, most of the good stuff under the skin of the good fords over here are Swedish, not least the 2.5 turbo engine in the focus ST and new Mondeo, plus the shared platforms the Focus and Mondeos are built on.

plus aren't Volvo profitable - whilst they may be a useful asset to sell off surely anyone planning long term strategy wants to keep the profitable and shed the loss making?

how long ebfore one of the big US manufacturers finally buckles under teh crippling debt, and what will the repurcussions be for US industry?

i note that Daimler have split from Chrysler now, so Mercedes are back on there own again, and doing very nicely

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Originally Posted by Robinho

plus aren't Volvo profitable - whilst they may be a useful asset to sell off surely anyone planning long term strategy wants to keep the profitable and shed the loss making?

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Back when I got to see more detailed reports on Ford, Volvo was usually the standout for bringing home the profits. Jaguar (much to my chagrin) was usually the weak kitten (pardon the pun) within the Premier Automotive Group.

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Originally Posted by Robinho

how long before one of the big US manufacturers finally buckles under the crippling debt, and what will the repurcussions be for US industry?

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The U.S.'s manufacturing base has been sliding downward for quite some time. Especially under the current administration, that trend is not likely to turn upward. I don't know how it's going to turn out here. When I first got into the automotive sector, I rather enjoyed it, because I like cars so much. But it ceased being fun when suppliers and OEM's began falling apart financially. The thrill is gone.