Troubled Volvo Cars on Sunday confirmed that Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding sealed a deal to buy the Swedish car maker from US auto giant Ford for 1.8 billion dollars. China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will pay the U.S. auto giant $1.8 billion for the Swedish car brand, which will give the company cachet in the domestic market and a foothold in Europe.
The privately owned Geely was ranked 11th in total sales last year in China and will benefit from Volvo’s research center and reputation for high safety standards.
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Chinese car maker buys Volvo for $1.8bn
Although private investment has joined the rebound in Thai economy, the outlook remains weak relative to other demand
Key risks to the outlook are political uncertainty and the timing of the withdrawal of fiscal and monetary stimulus. Increased political tensions may have a long-lasting impact on investment, and withdrawal of stimulus (in Thailand and the advanced economies) must be precisely timed to avoid macroeconomic imbalances (including new asset bubbles) while also ensuring that the recovery is on a sufficiently solid footing.
The domestic content of automotive output in Thailand varies between 50 and 90 percent and averaged about 62%. For Isuzu (the largest pickup producer), domestic value-added is probably closer to 90 percent. Electronic and computer components are largely imported (from Japan), as are most transmissions (from the Philippines and India). Electronic components are of high value added and are used globally by the producers. Moreover, their development requires substantial R&D expenditures. Car manufacturers, as a result, prefer to concentrate the production of these electronic components in their home country – notably Japan – limiting technological spillovers. Only Toyota has a local transmission plant, with the remainder imported from India and the Philippines.
