Yesterday Jerry York made some statements about the fact that Ford should sell its Volvo and Mercury brands. Well today Ford has released an official statement that Volvo is not for sale and that the automaker continues to invest in Mercury.
“We’re focused on improving the business,” Volvo Chairman Lewis Booth told Automotive News Europe.
According to Booth, Volvo is not for sale and the automaker’s product program is in order. Although Volvo’s product lineup may doing well, the automaker still managed to post a pretax loss of $151 million in the first quarter of 2008. Compare this to a profit of $94 million during the same quarter last year. Rising raw material costs and the weakening dollar are partly to blame.
Booth also stated that Volvo is counting on the new XC60 SUV to help the brand.
In regards to Mercury, Ford has stated that the automaker is continuing to invest in the brand and new Mercury products such as the revised Milan and Mariner that are due out this fall. I still don’t really get the point of Mercury. How about they release some new Mercury products that don’t look like their cheaper Ford counterparts?
Full Story: eGMCarTech
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