Volvo not for sale according to Ford Americas boss

Volvo won’t be dropped from Ford’s Premier Auto Group (PAG) despite reports that other carmakers included BMW were interested in its acquisition. The same can’t be said for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, which are likely to be sold off in an effort to raise funds for Ford’s Way Forward turnaround plan.

Ford originally bought Volvo back in 1999 for $6.5 billion, and it's currently the most profitable brand in the PAG. At the launch of the 2008 Taurus, Ford's president of the Americas, Mark Fields, told the Detroit Free Press that Volvo is pretty integrated into Ford right now," which makes it hard to sell even if Ford wanted to.

As part of its Way Forward plan, Ford will be shutting down 16 plants, dropping 44,000 staff and revamping its Mercury and Lincoln brands. Jaguar and Land Rover could earn up to $8 billion according to analysts, but Volvo offers Ford crucial safety technology that has already seen cars like the new Taurus earning safety awards from independent motoring bodies. Volvo is also developing new hybrid technology that would be crucial to the whole Ford group. Without it, Ford could lose even more sales to Toyota as it prepares a new range of hybrid models.