Geely: Volvo and Geely will remain separate

Helping save Volvo's image of being one of the safest and better quality automakers, Geely has announced its clear intentions to keep Geely and Volvo automotive production and development separate. Geely sees the purchase of Volvo as an opportunity to expand its volume and global presence, but has no desire to change the way Volvo operates.



With Geely's confirmed intent to buy Volvo from Ford in the very near future, the automaker has now announced that it will keep its Geely and Volvo brand separate, with neither brand producing vehicles for or by the other automaker, according to Reuters.

Geely also confirmed that it intends to keep Volvo's existing headquarters and plants where they are, citing a desire only to expand, not change the automaker.

"Volvo comes from Northern Europe and is rooted in Sweden. Volvo will not be Volvo any more if taken out of the soil," said Geely chairman Li Shufu. "Profit will only emerge if we expand the business scale, thus making costs per vehicle lower."

Shufu also said that Geely will not act as a parent company to Volvo, rather that they will act as equals under the same roof. "Relations between Geely and Volvo in the future will be like brothers, not father and son," said Shufu.

This news comes just days after Shufu told reporters that he viewed Volvo as a tiger, and that "a tiger belongs to the forest. It belongs to the wild world and not confined in a zoo. We need to liberate this tiger."

Geely will be purchasing Volvo for $1.8 billion from Ford, in addition to another $900 million cash injection planned for the Swedish automaker.

References
1. 'China's Geely says scale key...' view