In 2010, a little known Chinese billionaire named Li Shufu, and his company Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. bought struggling Volvo from Ford – by the end of this year the company will have introduced nine models, essentially replacing its entire product lineup.
Hakan Samuelsson became the chief executive officer of Volvo Car Group in 2012, and since then Volvo has built an engine plant and two vehicle assembly factories in China, plus another assembly facility in South Carolina, while expanding research and development centers in Sweden and California.
“It’s not that they came with a bag of money; actually the opposite. The entire turnaround of Volvo has been financed by Volvo’s cash flow. They left us alone and had the patience as an investor not to take our money but to reinvest it in a new product portfolio. We were close to being dead in 2010. And here we are,” said Lex Kerssemakers, a top Volvo executive under both Ford and Geely.
Read the article at Bloomberg.
