$1.8 B 从福特公司手上买下瑞典汽车品牌沃尔沃100%的所有权，包括沃尔沃目前在瑞典和世界其他地方的生产基地, 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)，并将在并购完成后开始在中国建立沃尔沃生产基地(planned annual capacity at 300,000 units)。看到这个消息，我还以为自己听错了 -- $1.8 B 买下仅仅十年前福特花费$6.5 B 购入的沃尔沃，吉利可是赚大了呀！
(我当然不算在此类，呵呵)，沃尔沃是瑞典的老品牌，以质量稳健著称，在国际汽车市场上多年来享有较好的声誉。九十年代，国际汽车行业兴起了一股并购潮 -- 先是美国第三大汽车公司克莱斯勒和德国汽车巨头奔驰合并，然后是福特在世界各地大举购买竞争对手，将许多中小型品牌纳入自己的旗下，包括Jaguar, Land Rover, Ashton Martin (就是007 开的专用品牌)，等等，甚至马自达的35%股份都被福特所有。沃尔沃也就是在1999 年被福特以$6.5 B 高价购入(当年福特的总盈利正好是$6 B，可见这个买卖价格不菲)，并和Jaguar, Land Rover 等其他高档品牌一起，被福特放入一个新成立的分部PAG (Premium Auto Group)。
Jaguar and Land Rover (合称为JLR)这两个英国老品牌加入福特的旗下比沃尔沃要早十年，是1989 年分别以$2.5 B 和 $2.3 B的价格购入的。二十年过去，福特在JLR 上投入的资金少说也在$10 B 以上，但两个品牌表现总是差强人意。最近几年，美国汽车行业由于受到日本和德国竞争者的冲击，三大巨头的市场表现每况愈下，福特虽然在三大之中还算情况最好的，但也无法维系90年代大肆扩张所形成的巨大摊子。于是几年前开始了“卖家产”的运动。JLR 就是在这样的背景下，于2008 年六月被卖给了印度大企业集团塔塔集团旗下的塔塔汽车公司，售价$2.5 B.
当然，也有人用联想当年并购IBM 硬件业务的例子作为证据，认为中国公司并购国际品牌不是不可为的；但这里也要看到这两个案例之间的不同之处，因为联想在并购IBM 硬件业务之前，就已经在国内市场占据较大的份额，在国际市场也开始初露头脚，它的生产规模和研发能力，离世界顶尖公司相差并不是很大；但同样的结论是否 适用于吉利呢？ 没有太多的资料，无法下这个结论。但感觉上，吉利要把这个“大山芋”吃下去，要做的功课还很多。克莱斯勒和奔驰之间的“deal made in heaven" ，最后也因为各种不可调和的矛盾而作鸟兽散, 就是跨国汽车行业并购难以成功的前车之鉴。
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 中国人民开心日，便是汉奸难受时 among these comments? What does it mean?! Who are the 人民, the Chinese people who are still in China? and who are the 汉奸, 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.
