Has Volvo gone to the dogs?

[AWD*V70XC]

Has Volvo gone to the dogs? No but it might have gone to the Frogs.

more later

[al_roethlisberger]

...what a tease


But if it did go to the dogs... frogs... whatever... please let me know in what model year so I can buy the preceding year!

[AWD*V70XC]

Details are still sketchy but rumours doing the rounds are... Renault has approached PAG to buy Volvo so that they can compete against the German manufacturers. It is also rumoured Renault might approach Saab if PAG decline the offer.

That's all for now.

[AWD*V70XC]

Ford is asking State District Judge Benjamin Euresti to permanently seal court records, which include e-mail documents previously in the public domain, that relate to Volvo’s roof strength.

According to Ray Marchan, another plaintiff’s lawyer, the records include e-mails between Ford and Volvo officials wherein, “Ford told Volvo to quit promoting roof strength (in its advertisements) because it was hurting Ford in the U.S.”

The whole story can be read here, http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_...=P67647_0_10_0 or here and thanks to Chris Mahon from the Brownsville Herald for highlighting the situation.

Ford safety testing at issue

Carmaker asks judge to seal e-mails about roof strength

By CHRIS MAHON
The Brownsville Herald

October 18, 2005 — The judge in a wrongful death suit against Ford Motor Co. reset a hearing scheduled for Monday to Nov. 10.

Ford is asking State District Judge Benjamin Euresti to permanently seal court records, which include e-mail documents previously in the public domain, that relate to Volvo’s roof strength.

The Swedish car maker is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford and performs certain safety tests that Ford does not perform, according to David Bright, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who has seen the documents.

Bright said that Ford does not perform “dynamic rollover testing” on its models but that Volvo does.

Dan Jarvis, spokesman for Ford, said that was untrue, that all Ford models undergo such tests.

Court documents were not available Monday to confirm either claim.

According to Ray Marchan, another plaintiff’s lawyer, the records include e-mails between Ford and Volvo officials wherein, “Ford told Volvo to quit promoting roof strength (in its advertisements) because it was hurting Ford in the U.S.”

The Brownsville lawyer representing Ford did not return phone calls Monday seeking comment on the carmaker’s position.

Some of the records in contention were previously public record and found on the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Web site.

NHTSA removed Volvo’s crash test results from its Web site after Volvo and Ford successfully argued that the “information would be likely to cause Volvo to suffer substantial competitive harm,” an attorney with NHTSA wrote to Ford and Volvo.

The new hearing comes after a jury awarded $30.4 million to the family of a deceased Pace High School student earlier this month.

In 2004, Jennifer Garcia and her family were driving along U.S. Expressway 77 when another motorist hit the family’s 1993 Ford F-150, causing it to roll over, according The Brownsville Herald archives.

[birddog]

"According to Ray Marchan, another plaintiff’s lawyer, the records include e-mails between Ford and Volvo officials wherein, “Ford told Volvo to quit promoting roof strength (in its advertisements) because it was hurting Ford in the U.S.”

"The Swedish car maker is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford and performs certain safety tests that Ford does not perform, according to David Bright, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who has seen the documents."

I'm sure some people will still insist that the "Volvo For Life" is just a BS slogan and not something the company is driven toward. I think these statements add even more credibility to this mission they have adopted of
"creating the safest car experience for modern families".

[philosophicaldreamer]

Details are still sketchy but rumours doing the rounds are... Renault has approached PAG to buy Volvo so that they can compete against the German manufacturers. It is also rumoured Renault might approach Saab if PAG decline the offer.

Gods willing Renault will buy Volvo, for even though Ford has not done a bad job with volvo, I always fear then one of those days they might do to Volvo what GM has been doing to Saab

Ta-ta, janusz

[BillAileo]

Remember the old adage "Be careful what you ask for, you might get it." As far as I'm concerned, I don't have enough information to have an opinion whether Forn ownership of Volvo will prove to be positive or negative long term. I certainly don't see how exchanging Ford ownership for Renault ownership is supposed to be a step in a better direction.

Bill

[Bobalouie3]

Here's a radical thought...why not have Volvo own Volvo??

[philosophicaldreamer]

Here's a radical thought...why not have Volvo own Volvo??

It is not a radical idea. They used to be independent. The problem is that Volvo by itself is too small of a company to be able to effectively comptete against others.

Ta-ta, janusz

[carl]

There is a current Ford television Ad in which Ford's Chairman and CEO (his name happens to be Ford too) talks about Ford's great cars. One of his statements is something like how Ford is using the safety experts in their Volvo Division to help design safer cars. I don't think they'd be advertising their Volvo safety experts if they were about to sell Volvo or force Volvo to redesign their roof supports.
But, you never know....
Carl