Ford prefers Geely bid for Volvo

Ford has announced that a consortium led by China’s Zhejian Geely is its preferred bidder for its Swedish car subsidiary Volvo.

The carmaker said it would enter detailed and focused negotiations with Geely, although no final decision about Volvo’s future had been taken.

Geely announced last month that it was intending to make an offer for Volvo. Geely used to make the cheapest cars in China, but it has been moving towards appealing to more affluent customers.

‘Ford believes Geely has the potential to be a responsible future owner of Volvo and to take the business forward while preserving its core values and independence,’ said Ford’s chief financial officer Lewis Booth.

Although Ford said it would not retain a shareholding after any sale, it said it would continue to co-operate with Volvo in several areas.

These would include ‘component supply, engineering and other key stakeholders,’ said John Fleming, chairman of Ford’s European arm and of Volvo. For its part, Volvo welcomed Ford’s announcement as a positive step forward.

Although Ford has not faced the same difficulties as its domestic rivals GM and Chrysler, it has still been forced to sell some of its brands to concentrate on its core US carmaking business.

Last year, it sold Jaguar and Land Rover to India’s biggest carmaker Tata for $2.3bn (£1.4bn at the time). In 2007, it sold Aston Martin to a UK-led investment consortium. (BBC.co.uk: October 28).

UK and Ireland agree to recognise driver disqualifications

Disqualified drivers in the UK and Ireland will find it harder than ever to escape the law, after a pioneering deal between the two EU states is to come into force in February.

UK drivers disqualified for an offence in the Republic of Ireland will no longer escape that punishment when they return home. Likewise, disqualifications earned by Irish drivers while in the UK will be recognised and enforced when they return to Ireland.

The measures are the result of a deal agreed between the British, Irish and Northern Ireland Ministers and represent the first practical step of its kind in Europe.

Road Safety Minister Paul Clark said: ‘Britain has one of the best road safety records in the world but we need to do everything we can to improve even further. If a UK driver commits a serious offence while in Ireland their ban should still apply when they return home.

‘These measures will keep dangerous drivers off our roads by ensuring that disqualified drivers are not able to escape their punishment.’

The agreement was the first to be drawn up under the terms of the 1998 European Convention on driving disqualifications.

The United Kingdom has made a formal declaration to the EU Council to enable the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications with Ireland from February 2010. The EU will confirm the exact date of implementation.

The agreement is within the framework established by the 1998 EU ‘Convention on Driving Disqualifications’. (EU: October 28).

ATS and Michelin win contract

ATS Euromaster and Michelin have been appointed by Redditch Borough Council as the supplier of tyres and associated services under a four-year framework agreement.

The contract covers the local authority’s mixed fleet of 150 vehicles, which ranges from vans and agricultural equipment to refuse collection vehicles and road sweepers, as part of a pan-government tyre sourcing initiative established in 2007 via the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Junior Braithwaite, Redditch Borough Council’s fleet manager, said: ‘Our fleet requires a complete range of specialist commercial vehicle and agricultural tyres which we can now purchase and have fitted whilst benefiting from the combined buying power of the OGC.’ (ATS/Michelin: October 28).

Ford top for reliability but Chrysler falters

Ford is the only Detroit automaker with world-class reliability, according to Consumer Reports’ 2009 annual car reliability survey. About 90% of Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln products were found to have average or better reliability, according to the magazine’s survey.

Other than the Toyota Prius, the reliability of the four-cylinder Fusion and Milan ranks higher than that of any other family saloon, beating both the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, while the Lincoln MKZ tops its rivals, the Acura TL and Lexus ES.

‘It’s rare for Consumer Reports to see family sedans from domestic carmakers continue to beat the reliability scores of such highly regarded Japanese models as the Camry and Accord,’ said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports’ automotive test centre. The last domestically-built car that had better reliability than the Camry and Accord was the Buick Regal in 2004, he added.

Ford’s position as the most reliable domestic carmaker includes good scores for its new Flex SUV. But the Lincoln division has had mixed results; some models score below their Ford equivalents. All wheel drive versions of the MKS, MKX, and MKZ, essentially high-end versions of the Taurus, Edge, and Fusion, respectively, are all below average.

A large margin separates the best from the worst. The least reliable vehicle, the Volkswagen Touareg, is 27 times more likely to have a problem than the most reliable car, the Honda Insight.

In addition to the Insight, small car reliability scores stood out. Twenty of 37 small cars have above-average predicted reliability including the Honda Fit [Jazz], Scion xD and Volkswagen Golf. Family cars fared nearly as well, with 21 out of 42 scoring above average. Five of the eight most reliable family cars are hybrids, including the Toyota Prius, Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry.

Even good brands falter. Among the least reliable vehicles in their respective classes are the all-wheel-drive Lexus GS, the Nissan Versa sedan, and the Subaru Impreza WRX.

Some newer GM products are bright spots. Overall 20 of the 48 GM models Consumer Reports surveyed have average reliability scores, while the Chevrolet Malibu V6 has shown better than average scores and is on par with the most reliable family sedans. The Buick Lucerne did well in road tests, and it scores average in reliability.

Chrysler continues to struggle. More than one third of Chrysler products are much worse than average, including its new car-based SUV, the Dodge Journey. Last year, Consumers Reports couldn’t recommend any of its products either because of mediocre performance, poor reliability scores, or both. However, this year CR can recommend one important vehicle in Chrysler’s lineup: the four-wheel-drive version of the redesigned Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. (just-auto.com: October 28).