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Article: Volvo workers want a new owner; As financial troubles mount, expectations are growing that Ford will sell Swedish brand.(Trouble in Sweden)
- Article from:
- Automotive News Europe
- Article date:
- July 21, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: John Revill
GOTHENBURG - Across the road from Volvo's Torslanda factory is a shopping center called Volvo City.
Like the Swedish automaker that is one of Sweden's most famous brands, the battered sign on the center has seen better times.
Sales are down and losses are mounting at Volvo, which was bought by Ford Motor in 1999.
In the first quarter of 2008, global sales dropped 7.2 percent to 109,167 units from 117,614.
The company swung to a pretax loss of $151 million (about [euro]100 million) in the first quarter of this year from a year-earlier profit of $94 million.
In response, 2,000 job cuts have been ...