The coronavirus pandemic torpedoed efforts to include Swedish carmaker Volvo as a publicly traded company.
As a result of its merger this year with Geely Auto, then indexed in the Shanghai New Technology Index, the coronavirus pandemic has crushed sales of new cars worldwide, which has forced a temporary halt to the merger.
Geely Auto has attempted to enroll in the new Shanghai Technology Index, and its merger with Volvo has been temporarily suspended to lubricate the regulatory approval process.
This is not the first sadness Volvo has had in looking for a publicly traded company, after cancelling its own independent board plans two years ago.
At that time, in 2018, he had issued and sold “preferred shares” to two Swedish pension budgets and an insurance company, which may have been purchased through Volvo or exchanged for “unlisted shares” at the discretion of the majority shareholder”(Geely).
“Today’s resolution is another step toward Volvo Cars’ ambition towards a publicly traded company,” Said Volvo President and CEO Hakan Samuelsson at the time.
Therefore, for now, it may not act as a publicly traded company on its own, and at this time acts as a publicly traded company throughout Geely Autos.
Volvo has noticed its uptick in sales after coronavirus in China, but not elsewhere.
Consumer confidence – and cashflow – has been knocked around during the Covid-19/Coronavirus outbreaks around the world, with the incredibly complex car industry suffering more than most.
Volvo’s domestic market in Europe fell by 38% in the first half of 2020, while more than a quarter in Geely’s home country in China and the United States fell.
But Volvo is excited about the time of year, driven by sales of plug-in hybrids in Europe and the United States.
“The slowdown we saw in the first part is temporary,” Samuelsson insisted.
“We expect a strong recovery at the time of the year, and our diversity of electrified car recharging puts us in a solid position to respond to the emerging trends we’re seeing.”
“This pandemic has strengthened our confidence that our strategic ambitions are right and that an accelerated transformation of our business will lead to long-term growth.”
“We will continue and invest in electrification, online sales and connectivity.”
Plug-in hybrids now account for about a quarter of Volvo’s sales in Europe and about 10% in the U.S. And Volvo expects him to be next to recover.
The Chinese market has already recovered for Volvo, despite the company’s monetary loss in the first part of the year, and predicts that its annual volumes will only be below its pre-year targets.
Its volumes dropped 20 percent in the first half, to 270,000 cars, though its sales of plug-in hybrid cars and SUVs – capable of limited pure EV driving – rose more than 75 percent in the same, troubled period.
Geely Holding Company bought Volvo Cars from Ford in 2010 for US$1.8 billion (US$4.6 billion less than Ford paid in 1999).
Geely Auto is one of the brands controlled through Geely Holding, as is British sports car manufacturer Lotus, Malaysian vehicle specialist Proton and London Black Taxi LEVC.
I have been testing cars and writing about the car business for more than 25 years. My career began in daily newspapers and developed into editorship of two automotive
I have been testing cars and writing about the car business for more than 25 years. My career began in daily newspapers and developed into editorship of two automotive magazines. I’ve been based in Italy as a freelancer for more than a decade, covering the European car business, with a focus on product testing and product development for readers around the world. I judge the good and bad in cars how they perform their intended functions at their price points for their target customers against all of their competitors. I hold no short or long positions in the car industry, primarily because it could only compromise the integrity of my work, so my written positions are a condensation of available data mixed with about four full product cycles worth of experience.