Quote:
Originally Posted by Volvophile
The V40 was launched some three years before Ford took over and is in fact based on the Mitsubishi Carisma. Like all Volvos launched in the late 90's/early 2000's, there is not a hint of Ford in it.
I understand how Volvo AB needed to sell the car business and all, as it was simply too small to survive on its own. I do however think that Ford took their eye off the ball around 2005 and allowed the company to become loss making. All of the successful cars in recent years that people think were produced by Ford (S60, XC90 etc) were actually Volvo's last independently produced models. It should also be ackknowledged that Ford pinched a load Volvo technology that went towards producing some of the successful models they have today (Ford Focus ST/RS and the majority of their US range).
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True, but if Ford didnt buy Volvo etc then I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't have been around as an active manufacturer 2 yrs ago and I wouldn't have gone to my local stealer and bought my V40 for far more than I should have :-)