A tale of two Swedish-Americans: Saab versus Volvo
Both carmakers show a spirit of independence from the parent company, but one is the leading moneymaker in its group; the other continues to rack up losses. Care to guess which is which? Ford purchased Volvo from the truck manufacturer AB Volvo group in 1999. And now a Swede, the current CEO Hans-Olov Olsson, is returning to the chairman's seat. He will be replaced by another Swede, Frederik Arp, at the CEO position. Last year, Olsson delivered $700 million in profits to Ford. Jaguar, are you listening? The Detroit News believes that this healthy profit kept Ford from messing with Volvo's identity. In stark contrast, GM's Saab, a brand that used to be known for its hatchbacks that appealed to the nerdy intellectual crowd, is selling a rebadged Subaru and will soon be selling a version of the Chevy TrailBlazer built in Ohio.
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