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Geely-owned automaker Volvo Car Group reported its operating earnings tripled in the first half and said a further roll-out of new, more up-markmodels would help drive sales in the remaining months of the year. <br />
<br /> The carmaker, bought by China's <keyword id="1604952" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Zhejiang-Geely-Holding-Group-Co">Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co</keyword>. from Ford Motor Co. in 2010, said operating earnings rose to 5.59 billion Swedish crowns ($649.8 million) from a year-ago 1.66 billion. <br />
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Gothenburg-based <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Coming-soon-Volvo-is-going-to-launch-luxury-compact-SUVs-to-compete-with-Audi-BMW-Mercedes/articleshow/52397391.cms">Volvo </a>saw sales rise to 83.65 billion crowns from 75.22 billion a year ago underpinned by strong demand for its flagship XC90 SUV, and said the launch of its S90 sedan and V90 estate would provide a boost in the second half. <br />
<br /> "This robust first half financial and operational performance combined with a positive product pipeline allows me to state confidently that <keyword id="143503" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Volvo-Cars">Volvo Cars</keyword> expects to report another record full year in 2016 in terms of sales and profitability," Volvo Chief Executive Hakan Samuelsson said in a statement. <br />
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Launch costs for the new models meant the group's operating margin dipped slightly relative to that reported for the first quarter alone, but it still stood at 6.7 percent versus the 2.2 percent posted in the first half of last year. <br />
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<a href="http://www.in4ride.net/in4ride/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Li-Shufu-Geely-Volvo.jpg"><em>Image source</em></a><br />

Volvo Cars trebled its profits in the first half of 2016

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Swedish <keyword id="12188066" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ev-maker-polestar" source="Orion">EV maker Polestar</keyword> will go public in a $20 billion deal with special purpose acquisition company Gores Guggenheim. </li><li><keyword id="12188065" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="polestar" source="Orion">Polestar</keyword> makes high-performance vehicles and was founded by Volvo Cars and China's Zhejiang Geely Holding. </li><li>The deal should close in the first half of 2022 and would bring Polestar to trade on the Nasdaq. </li></ul><p>Polestar is preparing to go public through blank-check company Gores Guggenheim in a deal that values the Swedish electric vehicle maker at about $20 billion, the companies jointly said Monday. <br /><br />The high-performance automaker was founded in 2017 by Volvo Cars and Chinese automaker <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gelyf-stock">Zhejiang Geely Holding</a>, known as Geely, and counts Geely Chairman Eric Li and actor Leonardo DiCaprio among its investors. It's<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-volvo-ev-polestar-take-on-tesla-north-america-2021-1?inline-read-more"> been positioning itself</a> to rival <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/lcid-stock">Lucid</a>.  <br /><br />Current Polestar stakeholders will retain roughly 94% ownership in the company and roll 100% of their equity interests into the pro forma company. The SPAC deal implies an enterprise value of about $20 billion for the combined company, representing about 3.0 times estimated revenue for 2023, and 1.5x 2024 estimated revenue.  <br /><br />The newly formed company would be called Polestar Automotive Holding UK Ltd. and is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "PSNY".</p><p>The boards of Polestar and Gores Guggenheim have unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to approval by Gores Guggenheim's stockholders and other closing conditions.</p><p>The company's Polestar 1 and Polestar 2 electric cars are already on roads in Europe, North America, and Asia. Deliveries reached about 10,000 vehicles in 2020, and management projects selling 290,000 vehicles a year by 2025. </p><p>Polestar plans to launch the premium electric SUV Polestar 3 in 2022, and introduce two more models by 2024 as it aims to expand global distribution to 30 <keyword id="11893875" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets" source="Orion">markets</keyword> by 2023. </p>

Polestar, the Swedish EV maker backed by Volvo and Leonardo DiCaprio, is going public via $20 billion SPAC deal

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Volvo is one of those brands that has firmly embedded itself in the American consciousness. For a period of time in the 1980s and 1990s, you could just look at folks from a certain demographic and say, "Yep, drives a Volvo."</p><p>The Swedish carmaker's boxy, no-nonsense vehicles appealed to unpretentious, no-nonsense people. And they drove them until the wheels fell off, which they almost never did. In some parts of the country there are well preserved, 30-year-old Volvo 240s happily humming along with over 1 million miles on the odometer.</p><p>But the carmaker's own trajectory hasn't been quite so steady. Volvo was owned by Ford until the financial crisis hit, forcing the American carmaker to sell the brand to shore up its core business. </p><p>The crisis among US automakers coincided nicely with the explosive growth of China's car industry, and so a natural buyer emerged. China's Geely Group saw a rare opportunity to pick up an international brand and swept in.</p><p>When Geely took control of Volvo in 2010, critics of the $1.5 billion deal were curious as to whether it would all end in tears. After all, Chinese companies have had a relatively poor track record integrating their foreign acquisitions. Many were concerned Geely would meddle with the special Swedish sauce that made Volvo such a special brand for its fans.</p><p>Instead, Geely took a hands-off management approach, retained Volvo's existing engineering and manufacturing setup and even sought to accentuate the brand's Swedishness. At the same time, the Chinese firm gave Volvo the $11 billion it needed to develop its next generation of cars, engines, and technology.</p><p>So many things could have gone wrong. None did.</p><p>And this year, Volvo refuted any notions that it was undergoing some kind of identity crisis under Chinese ownership - with one car.</p><p>We're pleased to announce that the vehicle, the XC90 crossover SUV, is Business Insider's Car of the Year for 2015.</p><p>Man, oh man, was the competition fierce this time around. The XC90 found itself up against the new BMW 7 Series, the Audi S3 sports sedan, the Lamborghini Huracán supercar, the McLaren 675LT track-ready supercar, and the Tesla Model X.</p><p>All in all, the XC90 is a fine successor to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chevrolet-corvette-stingray-business-insider-car-of-the-year-2014-12" target="_blank">last year's Car of the Year winner</a>: Chevrolet's spectacularly good Corvette Stingray.</p><p>The Business Insider Car of the Year is chosen by BI's <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="transportation">transportation</keyword> team: Matt DeBord, Ben Zhang, and Bryan Logan, who took the XC90 on a long road West Coast trip earlier this year. Only cars that have been driven by the reporters are eligible, and we consider everything from the driving experience to the story that the car tells.</p><p>And it wasn't an easy decision. Matt - who, as the father of three and a former owner of two Volvos, is actually an ideal customer - took some convincing.</p><p>In the end, though, it was a week spent sampling the car - in top-level "Inscription" trim, tipping the cost scales at almost $67,000 - in its natural environment, suburban New Jersey, that made it a unanimous decision.</p><p>Several major factors guided our choice.</p><p>Ben made the strong case that the XC90 demonstrates that a Chinese company can handle the stewardship of a major brand that has built up an impressive level of equity over the decades, especially in the US, where it was for many years synonymous with safety.</p><p>The XC90 is the first all-new car to emerge from Geely's cash injection. It features both Volvo's new "Scalable Product Architecture" platform that will underpin all of the company's next generation of cars as well as the Drive-E engines that will power its complete lineup.</p><p>Bryan focused on the XC90's subdued yet impressive level of luxury. This isn't a blinged-out ride for those who want to roll large, but it isn't a dowdy chariot for suburban sports parents, either. Volvos have often been derided for driving in exactly the opposite direction of the rest of the luxury and near-luxury or mid-luxury market, catering to the tastes of folks who think it's a hot time when they get to break out the flannel-lined khakis.</p><p>Volvos aren't supposed to be shiny. They're supposed to look good when they haven't been washed for a year and have back seats adorned with old wool blankets, dog hair, lacrosse sticks, and thermoses of homemade hot chocolate.</p><p>If Volvo was going to keep on keeping on, it was going to have to appeal to anyone who's eyeing, say, an Acura MDX or an Audi Q7, and asking why Volvos can't cut it in the valet lines.</p><p>Matt is used to the whole Volvo thing, but he's also a student of seven-passenger family-transportation contraptions. (His last Volvo, a V40 wagon, was succeeded by a Honda Odyssey minivan.) While the XC90 ticked off numerous boxes on the luxury and versatility front, he had a tough time with the turbocharged and supercharged four-cylinder engine. Although 316 horsepower is nothing to sneeze at, he wanted more obvious oomph, from a good old-fashioned six-banger.</p><p>Then he sampled the all-wheel-drive crossover for a week and had half a tank of gas left when all was said and done. The XC90 made good on its EPA estimated 22 mpg city/highway combined fuel-economy rating.</p><p>That's a college-saving plan right there, folks.</p><p>The bottom line is the XC90 has so much going for it that it was ultimately a challenge to <em>not </em>choose it. However, in our rundown of the runners-up, we explain what was great about each of those cars, so check it out if you'd like a window into our decision-making process.</p><p>While the Volvo might not be as luxurious as a Mercedes G Class or as robust under the hood as a BMW X Series, and we're unsure of whether its reliability can challenge Acura or Lexus, there's no doubt that it's feature- and technology-packed, a joy to drive, and exceptionally versatile and comfortable.</p><p>For Volvo, it's a triumphant move in a new but not radically different direction. It's earned all the great press it's gotten in 2015. And it's a worthy BI Car of the Year!</p>

The Volvo XC90 is Business Insider's 2015 Car of the Year

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="Volvo" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54e639446da8114c0c99a7e9-960/volvo-s60-inscription.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></div><p></p></div></div>So far, it is too early to tell whether Geely's $11 billion bet will pay off. </span></p><p>The first completely new model to emerge from Geely-owned Volvo is the second generation XC90 SUV that debuted last August. Although the big SUV has garnered rave reviews from the critics, it remains to be seen whether it will be the sales success Volvo needs it to be. </p><p>As for the S60 Inscription, it will mostly likely be sold only in small volumes in the US. More importantly, however, it will serve as a guinea pig for Volvo and Geely's future plans for America.</p><p>So watch out. This is only the beginning.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o2OGM3czpWcydnvhjbkDBd6feXPuExiD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The first Chinese-built luxury car is here, and it's a Volvo

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>When Geely took control of Volvo in 2010, critics of the $1.5 billion deal were curious whether it would end in tears. After all, Chinese companies have had a relatively poor track record integrating their foreign acquisitions. Many were concerned Geely would meddle with the special Swedish sauce that made Volvo such a special brand for its fans.</p><p>Instead, Geely took a hands-off management approach, retained Volvo's existing engineering and manufacturing setup, and even sought to accentuate the brand's Swedishness. At the same time, the Chinese firm gave Volvo the $11 billion it needed to develop its next generation of cars, engines, and technology.</p><p>So many things could have gone wrong. None did. And last year, Volvo refuted any notions that it was undergoing some kind of identity crisis under Chinese ownership - with one car. It was the XC90 crossover SUV, and it was Business Insider's Car of the Year in 2015.</p><p>Now <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-volvo-and-uber-team-up-to-develop-self-driving-cars-2016-8">Uber has announced</a> that it will use the XC90 as a platform for a rollout of self-driving technology in Pittsburgh.</p><p>Several weeks were spent sampling the car - in top-level "Inscription" trim, tipping the cost scales at almost $67,000 - in its natural environment, suburban New Jersey, and in the San Francisco area.</p><p>The XC90 is the first all-new car to emerge from a cash injection provided by Geely, which bought the brand from Ford after the financial crisis. The crossover features both Volvo's new Scalable Product Architecture platform that will underpin all of the company's next generation of cars as well as the Drive-E engines that will power its complete lineup.</p><p>The XC90 had so much going for it that it was ultimately a challenge to <em>not </em>choose it. While the Volvo might not be as luxurious as a Mercedes G Class or as robust under the hood as a BMW X Series - and we're unsure of whether its reliability can challenge Acura or Lexus - there's no doubt that it's feature- and technology-packed, a joy to drive, comfortable, and exceptionally versatile.</p><p>We certainly enjoyed <em>driving </em>it. Now we're wondering what it will be like for Uber customers to ride in it - with nobody driving it.</p>

The self-driving Uber Volvo XC90 was our Car of the Year for 2015 - here's what we thought

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Hollis Johnson</span></p><p class="caption">The Audi Q7.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/audi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audi</a> Q7 and the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/volvo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Volvo</a> XC90 are two of the best luxury crossover <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/suvs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUVs</a> in the world.</strong></li><li><strong>The Audi Q7 and the Volvo XC90 offer its occupants luxury car comfort and minivan-like utility with the off-road capability of an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/suv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUV</a>.</strong></li><li><strong>The Audi Q7 starts $49,900 while the Volvo XC90 starts at $46,900.</strong></li><li><strong>The Audi Q7's superior driving dynamics and infotainment system edges out the Volvo XC90 which has greater cargo room and more attractive styling. </strong></li></ul><p>The large crossover SUV makes a whole lot of sense.</p><p>It combines the user-friendly nature of passenger cars with the utility of a minivan and much of the off-road prowess of a traditional SUV.</p><p>And for those looking for a more plush crossover experience, the luxury brands have that covered. Two of the best large luxury crossovers we've ever tested are the Audi Q7 and the Volvo XC90.</p><p>The Volvo arrived in 2015 just in time for the 2016 model year while the Audi debuted in 2016 as a 2017 model. </p><p>The Volvo XC90 was a revelation for us when we first tested the car in late 2015. It was the first new model to arrive in showrooms following the Swedish automaker's acquisition by China's Geely Group. </p><p>We loved the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/volvo-xc90-business-insider-2015-car-of-the-year-2015-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second generation XC90 so much that we gave it our 2015 Car of the Year award</a> over some truly tough competition like the BMW 7-Series and the Lamborghini Huracan. Amazingly, with the impending arrival of the new S60 sedan, the XC90 will soon become the oldest model in Volvo's lineup.</p><p>And then there's the Audi Q7. In <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/audi-q7-2016-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our review of the second generation Q7</a>, Matt DeBord referred to the Audi as the luxury SUV perfected.  </p><p>In spite of the presence of the A8 luxury sedan, the Q7 is effectively Audi's halo product. The original Q7 debuted back in 2007. In spite of early criticism of its aesthetics, the big Audi eventually developed into a fan favorite.</p><p>Both are built on modular platforms and share their underpinnings with passengers cars. The Q7 is built on VW Group's MLB Evo platform that's shared with the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/audi-a4-and-acura-tlx-aspec-compared-photos-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audi A4 sedan</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bentley-bentayga-luxury-suv-2018-review-photos-details-2018-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bentley Bentayga SUV</a>. While the XC90 is built on Volvo's SPA platform that also underpins the company's entire passenger car lineup. </p><p>Here's a closer look at how the Audi Q7 3.0T Prestige and the Volvo XC90 T6 Inscription matches up: </p>

We drove a $65,000 Audi Q7 and a $60,000 Volvo XC90 to see which is a better luxury SUV - here's the verdict

<p><em><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-business-insider-interview"></a></em></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mike Nudelman/Business Insider/Volvo Cars</span></p><p class="caption">Volvo US CEO Lex Kerssemakers</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><em>For generations, Swedish automaker Volvo has enjoyed a cult-like following in the US. Its offbeat design has appealed to affluent, outdoorsy suburbanites who have loved its reputation for safety. Volvo owners have been more like an extended family than just customers.</em></p><p><em>A small but mighty force, Volvo - like the rest of the global auto industry - was hit hard in the Great Recession of 2007-09. Ford, which purchased Volvo Cars in 1999, sold the hobbled brand in 2010 to China's Geely Holding Group.</em></p><p><em>Unlike now defunct nameplates such as Saab and Saturn, Volvo would <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/volvo-cars-in-the-us-2015-11">maneuver out of the slump</a>. A multibillion-dollar cash infusion, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/volvo-xc90-business-insider-2015-car-of-the-year-2015-12">and one blockbuster new vehicle</a>, helped make 2015 a record-breaking year for Volvo. It sold</em><em> more than a half-million cars worldwide for the first time in its 89-year history. And this past summer it announced a $300 million strategic partnership with Uber to develop driverless cars.</em></p><p><em><em>Business Insider caught up with Volvo's US CEO Lex Kerssemakers to talk about this remarkable transformation.</em></em></p><p><em>This interview has been edited for clarity and length.</em></p><p><strong>Bryan Logan:</strong> Everyone is talking about Volvo's self-driving-car project with Uber. How did the companies get together?</p><p><strong>Lex Kerssemakers: </strong>One of the reasons we have the cooperation with Uber is that we share the same interest. We both have the vision to bring, as soon as possible, autonomous cars on the road. We have a lot of knowledge, they have a lot of knowledge. We develop it for Volvo, but at the end we will leverage our knowledge and also sell it to others.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> A lot of automakers are developing autonomous-driving technology. One objective, among others, is to reduce the likelihood of traffic accidents. So it sounds like the Volvo-Uber partnership furthers your "Vision 2020" plan, your goal to eliminate traffic-accident deaths by 2020.</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers: </strong>We believe it's the only way to get to our target. [Uber CEO Travis Kalanick] believes it's the only way to fulfill their business model, but it fits very well, because we use similar technologies.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> Why Uber?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers: </strong>We need miles. We need to find out how the technology operates in an automotive environment. They have elected Volvo because we have the electrical infrastructure to facilitate their system. And at the end, we need experience, and by this we gain experience together. It's a perfect setup - and also for Uber, because they get a very nice, good-looking car in which they can just plant in their system.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> How did Volvo and Uber end up in the same room together?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> We met a year ago. My CEO and I were there, and Travis, the team, the engineers were all there. They talk the same language. Uber is very good, they are very far. And our engineers love to talk to them and do things together. My CEO has the same vision as Travis. That's why it went so fast, and everything goes fast here in San Francisco.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> General Motors is also making a play in this space with its partnership with Lyft. And there are a number of investor-backed startups all trying to carve out a corner in this market. Some of them are moving to redefine the idea of car ownership.</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers: </strong>Everybody is doing their thing. Our business model is providing mobility, and there will be all sorts of mobility and ways of transport. People will own a car, people will share a car. At the end, it's part of the mix, and if the mix is 10% here or 20% there, we are going into this very open-minded.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> Tesla CEO Elon Musk often calls Teslas some of the safest cars out there because of the company's Autopilot self-driving feature. Does that rattle you, knowing that Volvo is traditionally known as the safest car on the road?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> In the end, we need to create a society where 33,000 people aren't killed [in auto accidents] every year. So I can only encourage him in making safe cars. I know which is the safest car company, and we're not going to give that up. This is a long-term journey and not "we've got to win this year and that year." It's a long-term journey. We collect data from real-world accidents, and we've got a really good idea how cars react in different accident scenarios. Our whole team are data-driven. They can model all that real-world information back in digital and replicate it in our crash-test safety center.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Volvo Car Group</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><strong>Logan: </strong>The current XC90 SUV, the new S90 full-size sedan, and eventually all new Volvos will be plug-in hybrids with four-cylinder turbocharged engines. What plans do you have for fully electric cars?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> We started to talk about electrification in 2008 when we took the decision to go for four cylinders. Fuel efficiency is huge, that's why we went for the four-cylinder turbos and electrification first. After that, we move to full electric, in 2018 or 2019. It is the future, let's face it. The era of big cylinders is over - people want to have big cars, but they still should be efficient.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> Tesla is leading the way there. They more or less broke the stigma of range anxiety and the notion that electric cars weren't stylish or practical.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> They definitely broke up the perception. They did a good job.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> You just launched the S90, the first new full-size luxury sedan from Volvo in a decade, and the second brand-new model since the acquisition. What kind of response are you seeing from the market?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> The demand globally - you can imagine - everybody wants to have the car. I hope to sell 3,000 of them this year, if we get enough cars to do so.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> What kind of long-term sales expectations do you have for the S90 considering SUVs are consistently outselling sedans?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> You get fewer people, but the people who come to the showroom, they're very dedicated to buying one. It's a different type of market with different customers.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> The XC60 - which is actually a bit older than the XC90 - is still selling like crazy too.</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> They're both doing well. We just launched a new four-cylinder with all-wheel-drive in the XC60, so now we have our new Drive-E engine there also. The XC60 and XC90 are our best-selling cars, and it tells you something about the SUV boom that is going on right now.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> You're looking to compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which, to be fair, have larger model lines than Volvo.</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers: </strong>We have a small SUV coming, the XC40. All our new compact cars - built on the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform - will come to the US. Every car we make will be global.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> So before all of Volvo's progress over the past few years, the company was on the rocks for a bit. And then a Chinese auto company, Geely, stepped in. What's the state of that relationship today?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers: </strong>Under Geely, Volvo operates as a standalone company. [Geely founder Li Shufu] gave Volvo full authority, time, and patience. He bought Volvo in 2010. The XC90, which represented everything we presented to him, was only introduced in 2015, so five years later. So he has been listening to me and to a few others for five years in a row. Each time we showed him our progress, he said very good, sign it off, and he has opinions, but he trusted Volvo. He gave us the authority to do what we've done because he has a long-term vision.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> Early on, some Volvo fans were concerned that the company would lose its Swedish identity under Chinese ownership. What's your response?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> I've had many meetings with the CEO of Geely. We share a lot. We try to combine things, because that's efficient from a corporate perspective, but at the end, Volvo is Volvo, Geely is Geely. It has worked extremely well.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> People had similar concerns about Jaguar Land Rover when India's Tata Motors bought the company from Ford in 2008, but the company seems to be thriving now.</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> It's too early to celebrate victory, because we are still on the journey. But it's those from India who took over Jaguar-Land Rover, it's those from China who took over Volvo, who have shown the Western world how it should be done. We have seen many takeovers in the past, and they haven't all been so successful. Both Tata and Geely were very clever, and it's a very interesting story. Again, it's too early to call it a victory, but Jaguar-Land Rover is doing very well and we are getting better year after year. That's food for thought in the future.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Samantha Lee/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div><strong>Logan:</strong> You're building your first US-based assembly plant in South Carolina. How is that coming along?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers: </strong>We are still on track. End of 2018, we should be producing the new S60 there. It's very exciting. Building a factory, to me, is so cool. And the governor, the local authorities there are so supportive. It's not always about money - it's also about attitude, the money you can get, support, and incentives in every state. It's about how they approach things, how entrepreneurial they are.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> That puts Volvo right in BMW's and Mercedes-Benz's backyards.</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> The South is strategically a good place to be. We needed to be close to the sea, so we could import and export cars and parts. At the end, it's about human beings. Is there a click, is there a connection? Do we feel comfortable that we are going to make the journey? We found that in South Carolina.</p><p><strong>Logan:</strong> Bringing it back to California, a bunch of carmakers have set up research-and-development hubs in Silicon Valley. What is Volvo planning?</p><p><strong>Kerssemakers:</strong> We're already in Camarillo, in the Los Angeles area, where we have the concept and design center. We developed, together with Apple, CarPlay from our office in Camarillo. We worked with Apple, and of course Uber, we do some things with Microsoft [HoloLens]. We've had such good experiences that we have decided we want people from the Bay Area working for us. So we will open an office - they're putting in the furniture now. We will have about 70 engineers. We call it Volvo California. It's one organization with two offices. The new one is in Mountain View.</p><p>That office will focus on autonomous driving, connectivity, infotainment, everything that's happening here. We're a small company with short communication lines, which makes a big difference. We don't have 25,000 layers, so we can do things very fast. We're leveraging on that now, because otherwise we could have never built all those new platforms, new factories, new engines, electrification, new infotainment. We did it all in five years with 6,000 engineers, so it's pretty strong. And we're selling cars.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-self-driving-taxis-test-drive-2016-9">We got a ride in a self-driving Uber - here's what it was like</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="l4bjh2NTE6wNgV21PA-L2La3Bl-jWw39" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

'Everything goes fast in San Francisco': Volvo's US CEO talks about the $300 million Uber deal and creating the safest car in the world

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Apple CEO Tim Cook.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/tesla">Tesla</a> CEO Elon Musk is in the middle of a go-private saga around the carmaker.</strong></li><li><strong>Various ways to fund a potential deal have been debated, but nothing solid has yet emerged.</strong></li><li><strong>Yet again, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/apple">Apple</a> and its pile of cash and trillion-dollar market cap could ride to the rescue.</strong></li></ul><p>The circus maximus of  <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla's</a> go-private plan has been with us for about two weeks. I've already pointed out that we shouldn't be surprised that Elon Musk doesn't want to be the CEO of a public company anymore, but to be honest this thing has gotten pretty nuts.</p><p>The deal itself - or non-deal, or theoretical deal, take your pick - is the nuttiest aspect. Musk wants to convert all Tesla's major shareholders from public to private status and raise enough money to buy out anybody who can't or doesn't want to come along for the ride.</p><p>This has reduced the price tag from a staggering $80 billion (Tesla's market cap at a $420 per share exit valuation plus debt) to a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taking-tesla-private-might-not-be-as-expensive-as-estimated-2018-8">far more modest but still chewy $15 billion-$20 billion</a>, based on my own back-of-the-envelope math. Musk has said that he's talking to investors, and that he infamously has talked to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.</p><p>As we move into a fortnight of continued speculation, Teslaology, and drippy-drabby information leaks around everything from SEC probes to how many lawyers and bankers will ultimately make enough on this deal to buy extra homes, it might be worth it to again consider what I'll call the "Mighty Eagle" scenario.</p><h2>Apple is Tesla's Mighty Eagle</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quintanomedia/14741696972">Anthony Quintano/flickr</a></span></p><p class="caption">Bring on the Mighty Eagle!</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>You might recall the Mighty Eagle from the Angry Birds craze a few years back. For months, my kids did little besides play Angry Birds whenever possible. Soon enough, they discovered the Mighty Eagle, the super bird that had the power to obliterate all pigs and their fortifications in a breathtaking, screeching swoop.</p><p>Tesla's Mighty Eagle is <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">Apple</a>. I've really done a 180 on this one. Initially, I thought Apple buying Tesla - a sort of Silicon Valley high-fantasy M&amp;A mashup from the 2014-2015 period - was a bad idea. But then Apple began to demonstrate that it was floundering with its own car project. Tesla also started to look delusional about its own growth prospects, after a new pay package for Musk was approved that would see the carmaker's market cap rising to $650 billion.</p><p>I'm somewhat more optimistic that Tesla will actually make good on some of its supporters' more extreme predictions for the company's eventual market impact (the "Tesla as the iPhone of cars" argument), but the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-apple-should-buy-tesla-2018-1">last time I wrote about Apple buying Tesla</a>, I maintained that such a deal would save Tesla from its own hubris. </p><p>Let's now amend that to Apple saving Tesla and Musk from one of the weirdest take-private schemes in financial history.</p><h2>The incredibly complicated deal vs. the incredible simple deal</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Joe Skipper / Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Tesla CEO Elon Musk.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>It would just be so, so straightforward. Apple could easily pay $420 per share for Tesla, in an all-cash, stock-and-cash, or all-stock deal. Apple could also play the role of take-private buyout funder, but that path seems far less elegant, although it would help Musk to avoid serving a single master, assuming he remained CEO.</p><p>Apple has about $250 billion in cash on hand and market cap of, yes, a cool trillion. Some Tesla investors might complain that if they, for example, swapped their Tesla shares for Apple shares, they'd be surrendering Tesla's potentially huge future growth. But Tesla has already delivered a 1,000% return to early stockholders, so I think another massive growth cycle is unlikely.</p><p>Then there's the Apple Car - "Project Titan," as it's known internally. As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ar-glasses-car-release-prediction-ming-chi-kuo-2018-8">Business Insider's Kif Leswing reported</a> last week, there's chatter about an Apple Car launch in 2023. </p><p>But that isn't going to happen. That's about four years to develop an actual vehicle, and while Apple can move mountains, it would take an established automaker more time than that to create a new car from scratch. </p><p>Also, why would Apple bother? Nobody ever talks about this anymore, but it acquired a nice business for $3 billion when it bought Beats in 2014, accelerating Apple's wireless efforts, infusing new technology, and pickup up the premier headphones company for people under 40 (older folks might prefer Bose). </p><h2>Tesla offers a lot of businesses for the price</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Tesla Superchargers.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>I wouldn't call Tesla cheap, not by a long shot. But the cost of creating a car company, as Tesla has demonstrated, is monumentally expensive. An Apple takeover of Tesla would give Cupertino an automaker whose core business amounts to 100,000-per-year in luxury electric-vehicle sales, with 200,000 a distinct possibility by 2018 or early 2019.</p><p>CEO Tim Cook would also be getting Tesla's commercial infrastructure - Tesla's stores - plus an extensive Supercharger network, a battery factory in Nevada, and as a bonus, a solar-and-energy-storage business, position Apple immediately as a player in the power industry.</p><p>And Apple would be buying, right away, $4 billion per quarter in revenue, with $5 billion in Tesla's sights. Tesla's top line is already staged to accelerate rapidly, and while it's far, far less than Apple's typical quarterly take - over $60 billion in Q2 2018 - ascending revenue, at Tesla's impressive rate, would be excellent compensation for a hefty overall acquisition price.</p><h2>Please, please forget about the Apple Car</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Business Insider</span></p><p class="caption">No.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>And we might as well face the most critical motivator, given Apple's fairly pathetic effort to do something in the car space: Tesla already makes the Apple Car - the brand overlap is obvious. I have no actual data on this, but I feel safe in assuming that nearly 100% of Tesla owners are also Apple customers, using multiple devices and services. </p><p>Is this going happen? Probably not. But Musk has obviously revealed that Tesla is sort of for sale, and he's named his price. The chance to buy an entire car company doesn't come along very often, but I can point to two deals from the past ten years that have worked out well: Fiat's takeover of Chrysler during the financial crisis; and the purchase of Volvo by China's Geely.</p><p>Apple has never undertaken a massive acquisition. It isn't in the company's DNA. But <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="transportation">transportation</keyword> - electric cars, self-driving cars, ride-hailing - looks like a major 21st-century business. Waymo could be worth $175 billion, and General Motors created an $11.5-billion autonomous mobility service with its Cruise division in just two years. Buying Tesla would put Apple immediately at the white-hot center of our transportation future.</p><p>It would also save Elon Musk from, well ... Elon Musk.</p><p class="tagline">This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Business Insider.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-thai-cave-sleeping-factory-2018-7">What's going on with Elon Musk</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

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