Chinese carmaker Zhejian Geely is set to ink a deal to take over Volvo Cars, the Swedish subsidiary of Ford Motor Co, dpa quoted Swedish media as reporting today. Representatives of Geely and Ford were expected to sign the deal on Sunday in Gothenburg, the Swedish west coast city where Volvo Cars has its main base. China's Vice President Xi Jinping was also due to visit Gothenburg this weekend. The deal was reported to be worth 1.8 billion dollars, less than a third of what Ford paid for Volvo in 1999. White-collar unions at Volvo on Thursday expressed doubts about the deal, saying that they had received insufficient information about the new owner's plans. There have also been questions about whether Geely has the financial muscle to run Volvo. Ford and Geely in December announced they had reached terms for the Chinese carmaker to acquire Volvo. In 2008, Volvo, which employs 20,000 people, produced about 375,000 vehicles. Despite a sharp slump in sales, the company has always been regarded as capable of surviving. Recently, Dutch-based sports carmaker Spyker Cars bought Swedish carmaker Saab from its US owner, General Motors.
