The cynic in me says this is their way to break into the sub $25k EV market by whitewashing the ethical baggage that comes from buying a full Chinese-made car.
Maybe.
EVs aren't profitable, except for Teslas. So, you need to find higher margins.
SUVs have higher margins in ICE and Hybrids, but for EVs, they don't make much sense.
That leaves only the luxury market.
As we saw with the Spectre, and now other companies entering the market, like Cadillac. I think we'll see a shift: EVs will become cheap and simple like the Slate or extremely expensive and luxurious like the Spectre, and everything in between will be hybrid, and enthusiasts cars will ICE.
At least that's the impression I get from the market, companies and sales.
And there will be Tesla, which, for some reason, is the only one that manages to make EVs profitably, and which has other businesses underway to compensate for the current lower margins, like taxis and robots.
1. Car companies might abuse workers and harm the environment
2. Western govs bring about regulations to make sure you dont do either
3. Just partner with Chinese companies who have none of these restrictions
4. Profit
yep
it's how the entire western manufacturing industry has been able to drastically cut costs and avoid western labour/environmental restrictions for literally decades
just outsource it to a country that uses slaves and no regulations
Ah, yes, it is so easy to be sarcastic nobody on the internets. Ford pioneered conveyor mass manufacturing and was one of the instrumental factors in US economic might of the last century. The have good quantity of iconic road going cars, iconic sports cars, won numbers of high profile endurance competitions, F1, etc, etc. So yeah, that famous Ford and their place in car history.
Quality wise they are decent.
At the time, Ford couldn't pull off luxury to save their butt. And the PAG only worked if all brands could be tiered.
This was on top of trying to make Volvo fit under Lincoln and Jaguar, who was under Aston Martin while using cost cutting platforms.
By the time Ford, GM, and Chrysler were close to Bankruptcy, everyone knew the Chinese top brands would get their hands on some good discount brands.
It's just disappointing Volvo couldn't be in a position to by Saab and make them something like Hyundai-Kia or like a more Brabus-RUF exclusive cars.
Volvo could dust off the name and some of the engineers from Saab, because they sold Polestar to Geely. They don't really have an in-house tuner anymore.
One thing that's somewhat related is that after all these years, BMW is finally making Alpina official. You wouldn't believe how small and tight Alpina is based on what they do to BMW's. Now they're growing.
Could they? Afaik it's in a Rolls-Royce situation where the aerospace company owns the name rights, and I don't think Saab is too keen on licensing the name
Not a fan of AI. But this prompt in Gemini is making a nice model
>“Front view of a modern Saab 95 electric wagon on a 2025 Volvo EX90‑style EV platform. Sleek, low, Scandinavian design. Smooth, slightly beak‑shaped nose with a largely closed body‑color front panel, a small central Saab badge, and a wide slim lower air intake. Thin LED headlights with a soft wing‑shaped DRL signature that flows into a clean horizontal line across the front. No chrome, just satin black and body color. Integrated lidar bar at the top of the windshield, flush glass and door handles, and a strong shoulder line visible from this angle. Painted in deep pine green metallic on 20‑inch turbine‑style aero wheels, studio lighting, high realism.”
If Ford was smart they would have put the god tier Volvo 3.2 NA and turbo T6s in their cars over the ecoboosts. The partnership did funnily enough produce a super reliable Land Rover since the US market Freelander 2 aka the LR2 was just a Volvo XC60 with a different body on top. You strip away the body of my V70 and my sisters 2011 LR2 and its identical, all they did was change the logo on the engine cover
Funny enough Ford, as far as I’m aware, didn’t take parts from Volvo for Ford cars. They did however use ford stuff to make Volvo cars. I own one…and it’s very weird.
Volvo supplied car platforms to Ford and Mazda. The Volvo S40, Mazda 3, and Ford Focus were all built on Volvo’s compact car platform. The Taurus used the same platform as the S80
I used to own an S60 and test drove an S40.
The S40 used a huge amount of Ford and Mazda parts, including platform/frame, suspension, transmission, but kept the Volvo engine.
I really liked the S40 looks, but the second you drove one you could tell it was nowhere near the build of Volvo.
Yep my c30 is basically a 3 door S40. Same chassis and interior and front end. It’s basically a focus /mazda 3 underneath but with a turbo Volvo 5 cylinder and a Volvo manual transmission.
I personally love it. But yes it’s absolutely less of a quality feel than say, my partner’s XC90
Ford did take Volvo platforms and modify them and build things on them. The Ford D3 platform was derived from the Volvo p2. It underpinned the five hundred and eventually the Taurus among other things. The P3 platform, from what I can tell was primarily developed by Volvo but ended up shared with Ford and Land Rover. They also took some of their engines as well. The European Ford Focus st had the Volvo whiteblock 5 cylinder engine as an example.
Wonder if this will pave the way for Ford and Geely to import EVs into the US. Volvo and Lotus are pretty niche, but a Ford badge and dealer network could do a lot of heavy lifting for broader accessibility.
Their partnership is about Europe part, Geely could use their factories to make their cars.
I kind wonder the future of Europe Ford because Ford seems not likely wanting to stay Europe. They’ve reason deal Renault and Geely.
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