Volvo Cars to buy out Northvolt from jointly owned gigafactory in Sweden
Volvo Cars to buy out Northvolt from jointly owned gigafactory in Sweden
Plans are further blow to Europe’s hopes of creating a homegrown electric car battery
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FYI , found this for context: Volvo Cars is primarily owned by Geely Holding Group, which acquired the company from Ford in 2010 for $1.8 billion. As of 2023, Geely holds approximately 78.7% of Volvo Cars, making it the largest shareholder, but not a full owner. Volvo operates independently, maintaining its Swedish heritage and brand identity while benefiting from Geely's resources and management support. The company was publicly listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm stock exchange in 2021, further diversifying its ownership structure
operates independently
That's a little questionable. At least one lower-end Volvo model was designed and is being produced by Geely in China.
I hear you. The whole thing is quite unfathomable and hard to untangle. But 79% GEELY says enough imo. Seems Volvo, dono which one, has bought rights for (majority?) distribution in China per 2024, or something like that.
And the other context is that there are quite credible rumors of sabotage by Chinese equipment suppliers, making this takeover by a majority Chinese owned company more than a little suspicious.
But IMHO is was stupid by Northvolt to just try to import Chinese battery-tech, and I think the states that provided subsidies for that will have some very hard lessons learned from getting played like that.
making this takeover by a majority Chinese owned company more than a little suspicious.
Tnx for reminder, hadn't thought of that context. And , agreed 100%.
"think the states that provided subsidies"
I hope so. Afaik, the EU has provided subsidies for (some) Chinese European cooperations in the past.