VERONA, Italy (Bloomberg) — Volvo plans to challenge BMW AG, Audi and Mercedes-Benz with its new V60 station wagon in Europe.

Volvo forecasts annual sales of 50,000 of the V60, which goes on sale later this year, Tomas Ahlborg, the model’s project chief, said in an interview in Verona, Italy, where the carmaker is holding test drives. Continue reading Volvo to challenge BMW, Mercedes, Audi with V60 wagon

Volvo is a tiger that needs to be freed, says Li Shufu, whose Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed an agreement on Sunday to buy Volvo from Ford Motor Co.

“A tiger belongs to the forest. It belongs to the wild world and not confined in a zoo. We need to liberate this tiger,” Li told a press conference announcing the deal in Volvo’s home town of Gothenburg.

Li was referring to Volvo’s reliance on Europe for production and on Europe and North America for most of its sales. To address this issue, Li is planning a factory in Beijing that will make 300,000 Volvo cars a year. That is about the same amount the automaker produces annually at its plants in Sweden and Belgium.

He called the European factories the “heart” of the Volvo tiger, “but its power should project it throughout the world,” he added. Continue reading Volvo buyer promises to ‘liberate’ the brand

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) — Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, China’s largest private-run carmaker, will sign an agreement on Sunday with Ford Motor Co. to buy the U.S. carmaker’s Volvo car unit, a Volvo spokesman said on Saturday.

Geely and Ford plan to announce details of the deal — China’s biggest overseas auto purchase — at a news conference in the west coast Swedish city of Gothenburg. Continue reading Geely, Ford to sign Volvo accord on Sunday, Volvo says