$1.8 B 從福特公司手上買下瑞典汽車品牌沃爾沃100%的所有權，包括沃爾沃目前在瑞典和世界其他地方的生產基地, 2450 trademarks, 1,500 technical monopolies of engine, platform and molds which Ford Motor transferred without compensation and some related rights; 200 design patents; 45 engine technologies which Ford Motor permitted without compensation; 20 safety technologies; and 230 hybrid technology patents with Fords limited license)，並將在併購完成後開始在中國建立沃爾沃生產基地(planned annual capacity at 300,000 units)。看到這個消息，我還以為自己聽錯了 -- $1.8 B 買下僅僅十年前福特花費$6.5 B 購入的沃爾沃，吉利可是賺大了呀！
(我當然不算在此類，呵呵)，沃爾沃是瑞典的老品牌，以質量穩健著稱，在國際汽車市場上多年來享有較好的聲譽。九十年代，國際汽車行業興起了一股併購潮 -- 先是美國第三大汽車公司克萊斯勒和德國汽車巨頭奔馳合併，然後是福特在世界各地大舉購買競爭對手，將許多中小型品牌納入自己的旗下，包括Jaguar, Land Rover, Ashton Martin (就是007 開的專用品牌)，等等，甚至馬自達的35%股份都被福特所有。沃爾沃也就是在1999 年被福特以$6.5 B 高價購入(當年福特的總盈利正好是$6 B，可見這個買賣價格不菲)，並和Jaguar, Land Rover 等其他高檔品牌一起，被福特放入一個新成立的分部PAG (Premium Auto Group)。
Jaguar and Land Rover (合稱為JLR)這兩個英國老品牌加入福特的旗下比沃爾沃要早十年，是1989 年分別以$2.5 B 和 $2.3 B的價格購入的。二十年過去，福特在JLR 上投入的資金少說也在$10 B 以上，但兩個品牌表現總是差強人意。最近幾年，美國汽車行業由於受到日本和德國競爭者的衝擊，三大巨頭的市場表現每況愈下，福特雖然在三大之中還算情況最好的，但也無法維繫90年代大肆擴張所形成的巨大攤子。於是幾年前開始了“賣家產”的運動。JLR 就是在這樣的背景下，於2008 年六月被賣給了印度大企業集團塔塔集團旗下的塔塔汽車公司，售價$2.5 B.
當然，也有人用聯想當年併購IBM 硬件業務的例子作為證據，認為中國公司併購國際品牌不是不可為的；但這裡也要看到這兩個案例之間的不同之處，因為聯想在併購IBM 硬件業務之前，就已經在國內市場占據較大的份額，在國際市場也開始初露頭腳，它的生產規模和研發能力，離世界頂尖公司相差並不是很大；但同樣的結論是否 適用於吉利呢？ 沒有太多的資料，無法下這個結論。但感覺上，吉利要把這個“大山芋”吃下去，要做的功課還很多。克萊斯勒和奔馳之間的“deal made in heaven" ，最後也因為各種不可調和的矛盾而作鳥獸散, 就是跨國汽車行業併購難以成功的前車之鑑。
Thanks for expressing your opinion. I don't understand it either. I really don't know what else I could do other than closing the "comment" function or deleting people's comments - which I normally don't want to do. I have said so many times, I'm just discussing this business transaction here, not the political implication of the business behavior. I think some people do take it too far.
I just really don't get this, why do I always see 中國人民開心日，便是漢奸難受時 among these comments? What does it mean?! Who are the 人民, the Chinese people who are still in China? and who are the 漢奸, we people abroad? What's going on? We may not legally be Chinese anymore, but we ARE, as I saw in a posting, the Chinese that may love China even more .... After all, it is China that does not allow us to have our birth citizenship anymore. Although it is not my position to comment if the Chinese government should or should not allow dual citizenship, losing my Chinese citizenship does make my travel a heck of more difficult ... confusing, I thought this site was for people who had similar background like me....
Very good point - Volvo probably had the classic problem of "positioning" - it was somehow "stuck in the middle" and had no edge over the many rival brands, at least in the North American market. I don' t know about its performance in Europe either, but think it's probably better there.
I agree that Volvo might do well in China now that it's bought by a Chinese company. But the problem in the Chinese market is there are too many small scale manufacturers and other than the top ones, none of them have the size big enough to achieve the superior efficiency level. Geely is definitely not there yet, but with Volvo's global production base and its new facility of 300,000 units, maybe it will get there:).
Thanks for sharing your comments!! I do agree that if Geely can protect the quality and image of Volvo vehicles and improve its efficiency in manufacturing, it does have a good opportunity to succeed, at least in the Chinese market.
