Ford owned Volvo?
 

I met a guy at the local watering hole yesterday before the big game, and was telling him about my S80 Probblems with the climate control not working and the SRS urgent message in the DIC and he told me he had the scan tool that would clear my codes in the car. He also told me that Ford owned Volvo back when he was a Ford tech some years ago. Is this true?

I forgot to add, he told me that his Snap-on Ford diagnostic tool would work with Volvo. Now thats a new one to me? Anyone know if this is true or is he just blowing smoke up my arsse?

Yes. Ford did own Volvo. There are lots of scanners that will read codes.

Thanks ES6T, I didn't know whether to believe him or not. That makes me feel better knowing that he wasn't pulling my chain. I do know there are many scanner's that will read codes, my Cen-tech has read and cleared many codes on my Mercedes, Hummer and 96 Volvo 960, but it is not picking up any codes on my 2002 S80. There's the dreaded SRS warning and my climate control is dead. The Cen-tech is showing that there are no codes to read or erase. From what I have read, I believe that when the previous owner replaced the battery he did not follow the rule about the neg. disconnect first. I just hope thats the case. I have tried a few tricks that were posted here with no results so now I just hope the right scanner will clear the code and make everything normal.

A generic code reader only reads emissions related generic OBDII codes, not SRS or other codes.

Does it make you feel any better that Ford sold Volvo to the Chinese? Something I only discovered yesterday and I usually don't miss much. Enjoy your Volvo's while you can.

Noooooooooooooo!

Why? The Chinese are only building them for their own market.

Not true. Geely bought the whole enchilada from Ford in 2010.

China's Geely completes Volvo buy | Reuters

Yes. But they are not building any cars outside of their own market.

From that article:

"Geely's plan includes using the Swedish nameplate to produce luxury brands in China -- which passed the United States last year to become the world's biggest auto market -- while maintaining its operations in Europe to supply the international market."

I think its funny how most people react when they find out that a Chinese company bout Volvo when they really don't know any of the details. Yes Volvo is owned by a Chinese company but everything is still the same. Most of the parts are still coming from Sweden and the main focus is still safety. Everyone though it was a really bad idea when ford picked up Volvo but in my opinion, that was probably the best thing to ever happen to Volvo. So many things would not have happened without ford getting involved and Volvo wouldn't have been the standard when it comes to safety. There's a lot of things that Volvo has had for a very long time that most companies are just starting to use or started using in the recent past. Now that another company is involved I'm really excited to see where Volvo goes from here.

You could very read the sentence this way: "while (Geely is) maintaining its operations in Europe to supply the international market."

I was not implying that ALL Volvo's are now built in China, but they most certainly own the production facilities in Sweden every bit as much as the Chinese now own 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza and Ford owned Volvo before it was sold to the Chinese. And when they own it they control it, so whether or not Volvo continues to be the same kind of car company it has historically been is a fair question, as fair a question as one could ask when Volvo was taken over by Ford.

Ford at one point owned the following at the same time.
Starting with the obvious.
Ford
Lincoln
Mercury
Mazda
Volvo
Aston Martin
Jaguar
Land Rover
& Lamborghini if I'm not mistaken.

That still doesn't make what I said "not true".

You are correct. Ford sold Volvo to Chinese Geely. Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to the Indians. The Indians love everything British and the Chinese prefer German and Swedish products.

I can understand why Geely wants to buy Volvo that much. Geely's safety reputation is really really really bad. Driving a Geely at speed more than 30 miles is suicidal. It shouldn't be a surprise that Geely drools around the Volvo technology. Now it can acquire, instead of spending years and money to develop themselves. The 2013 sales figure of Volvo in China was a 48% increase, which is good news for Volvo. I wish after Geely sucks up all the technology they can get from Volvo and making good profits from the increasing Chinese market, it will still leave some room for Volvo to continue its culture to some extent. But it is only a wish...greed will change people course of action...especially in China, which is a bloody capitalist society that only money talks.

The Chinese are also building London taxi cabs for their own market

India builds the old British single cylinder 350 cc and 500 cc Royal Enfield motorcycles. The engines fitted to the Royal Enfield, if my memory is correct are built in Australia which are more modern versions of the old thumper. Quite a good reliable bike from what I hear. India also produces the old British Morris Oxford design from 50 odd years ago called the Ambassador, they are used as taxi's and by government ministers.

The Chinese also build side valve boxer engined versions of the old WW2 BMW bikes and sidecars which are used by their military.