What year did a Volvo become a Ford/Geely?

[mrbrian200]

Globalism means that its difficult to describe where a brand really is from anymore. Does it matter where the brand's HQ is located? Or where they produce the product? Is Ford Mexican? Is Toyota American?

Yes but car companies do strive for brand consistency regardless where a particular model was built. And a lot of what we perceive as 'quality' is design engineering that isn't really affected by changing the location of manufacture.

[abscate]

My 2006 BMW has a GM transmission made in France

[polskamafia mjl]

Yes but car companies do strive for brand consistency regardless where a particular model was built. And a lot of what we perceive as 'quality' is design engineering that isn't really affected by changing the location of manufacture.

I agree with you but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with what I said though. I just mean that its difficult to say that a company is from a certain country when its production facilities may be in another country using parts produced in a third country. At what arbitrary point does one make the cut off for deciding which country the company is from?

[scot850]

Hey the first generation XC90 T6 had a GM auto trans. We know how that turned out! Also the AW 5 speed auto that was used in the last P80's and P2's. My brothers European Ford Mondeo sedan has the same crappy transmission and same reliability issues.

I thing the Geely purchase for the most part has been a great thing for Volvo and investment in new models. Although we are unlikely to buy another Volvo (very outside chance of an XC40) due to there inability to make a trunk area large enough for golf bags without lowering a back seat. The XC40 MAY be large enough for 2 golf bags which is similar to our 2015 Kia Sportage.

Overall, there is a chance that due to the chances more manufacturers using the same parts COULD keep parts prices down and possibly better quality due to less variations. However, let me know if anyone sees this happening.

One criticism I do have is the parts prices I had hoped to see come down, have actually gone way up even for small parts to stupid levels since Geely took over.

It will be interesting to see if the Geely owned Lynk $ Co (?) XC40 type vehicle is any good and how the price relates to the XC40. Have to say the Geely made version is actually better looking than the XC40!

Neil.