Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China’s largest private-run car maker, signed an agreement yesterday with Ford Motor to buy the US carmaker’s Volvo car unit, China’s state media reported.
The deal was sealed at a ceremony at the Volvo headquarters in Sweden, the Xinhua news agency said. Geely and Ford planned to announce the details of the deal — China’s biggest overseas auto purchase — at a news conference in the west coast Swedish city of Gothenburg.
“This is to talk about the stock purchase agreement between Ford and Geely,” Volvo spokesman Per-Ake Froberg said.
The deal will not be closed for a number of months, probably in the third quarter, he said.
Geely chairman Li Shufu (李書福) will be in Sweden to sign the agreement, as will Volvo Cars chief executive Stephen Odell and Ford’s chief financial officer, Lewis Booth.
Geely, parent of Geely Automobile Holdings, was already named by Ford as the preferred bidder for the Swedish unit in October.
The deal will help free up cash for the No. 2 US automaker and enable it to focus on its core Ford brand as it claws its way out of the industry’s worst ever downturn.
The takeover underscores China’s arrival as a major force in the global auto industry and ends two years of talks over the sale of Volvo — the last to be sold of Ford’s former premier group, which also included Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover.
The Volvo acquisition will offer Geely a headstart over its much bigger state-owned rivals, such as Dongfeng Motor Group Co.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS