U.S Consortium to Bid for Volvo

The U.S auto manufacturers have been attempting to rid their "non-core" assets over the past few years. General Motors is entering the last stages of a Saab sale, nearing approval on Hummer and has attempted to sell Opel.

Ford has gotten rid of Jaguar and Land Rover, while Chrysler failed in its attempt to find a buyer for the Viper "brand". Volvo is of Ford's brand asset sales, and completion of any deal is still a while away.

It was recently announced that Chinese automaker Geely is Ford's "preferred buyer" for Volvo. It doesn't really mean too much though, as the bidding process is still open.  A United States-based consortium, Crown, is taking advantage of that and is putting in a bid as well.

Crown is being led by former Ford director Michael Dingman, reportedly has gained support from Swedish investors.  Having Swedish investors on board would signal Crown's desire to keep Volvo Swedish-vased. Geely is still the likely favorite at this stage, due to its reach in China and other markets.

However, Crown is supposedly putting in a higher bid. Sweden's Dagens Industri newspaper quotes an unnamed source at Crown as saying: “There is no point in bidding low. You are not going to win anything that way."

There have been some worries at Ford about selling to Geely over intellectual property. If those fears are strong enough and the bid high enough, Crown's bid could have a chance.