Brian's Blog

Eye On Detail

Geely Completes Takeover of Volvo From Ford

Geely Completes Takeover of Volvo From Ford; Jacoby Named CEO
August 02, 2010, 6:05 AM EDT

By Ola Kinnander and Keith Naughton
Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. completed the purchase of Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co. in the biggest overseas acquisition by a Chinese automaker.
Geely paid $1.3 billion in cash today and issued a $200 million note for the acquisition, Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford said in a statement today. Geely will pay the remainder of the purchase price when the final adjustments on Volvo’s value are made later this year, Ford said.
Stefan Jacoby, who stepped down as head of Volkswagen AG’s U.S. operations in June, will succeed Stephen Odell as Gothenburg, Sweden-based Volvo’s new chief executive officer, Geely said in a separate statement.
Booming auto sales in China made the nation the largest auto market last year, generating profit that’s allowing its manufacturers to reach out to Western markets and technologies. Divesting Volvo completes Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s strategy of exiting European luxury lines to focus on its namesake brand.
“The estimated purchase price adjustments used at closing are expected to be finalized and settled following final true-up of the purchase price adjustments later this year,” Ford said in its statement. “The final true-up is expected to result in additional proceeds to Ford.”
--With assistance from Niklas Magnusson in Stockholm and Tian Ying in Beijing. Editors: Kenneth Wong, Chad Thomas.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ola Kinnander in Stockholm at okinnander@bloomberg.net; Keith Naughton in Dearborn, Michigan, at Knaughton3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net; Kevin Orland at korland@bloomberg.net.

~ by Brian on Monday, August 02, 2010 at 7:07am.

Back to Top
Permalink

Around the Block | 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

~ by Brian on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 6:53pm.

Back to Top
Permalink

Some things are just more involved.

Some jobs are more involved than others. A prospective client contacted me a week ago and enquired as to what it may cost to have the rear seat of a SUV shampooed. Well experience told me that it was very likely that a spill had occurred. I however quoted him half of the cost of an interior detail.
I never heard back from him until a week later. Well by this time the problem had become aggravated in no small order he had flies living in the vehicle. It turns out he had gone fishing and a container containing sea water had spilled onto the seat. Or at least so he thought. We agreed on a price and off to work I went. Fortunately he had to wait about an hour for his ride to show up. This provided him with firsthand experience of what is involved in doing an interior detail job the right way.

Well after packing all his personal items in a bag (which I always do) .I proceeded to vacuum the carpet only to realize that the spill had made its way onto the carpet .To be thorough I lifted an area of the carpet and confirmed that the spill had made its way beneath the carpet also. At this point as I had been doing all along I once more brought this to his attention.

This was becoming very involved and I had to revisit our initial assessment and agreement. I gave him the option of sticking to our original agreement of cleaning only the rear seat which would not have involved the carpet or beneath. He gave me permission to do what I thought was best. This was after carefully outlining to him the process and cost. This would now involve removing all the seats to effectively treat the carpet and beneath.

We also decided that an odor treatment was necessary. Well this took two days and at the end he was very happy with the results. I went further to suggest he install in his vehicle especially in the trunk area a mat that is designed to catch spills.

~ by Brian on Friday, June 04, 2010 at 5:28pm.

Back to Top
Permalink

Audi TT Quattro gets a basic Detail

This Audi TT Quattro was in the shop today for a Basic Detail. The vehicle experienced being hand washed to remove dirt, debris and other contaminants from the exterior surfaces.

The wheels and tires were washed to include the inner sides of the wheel and the wheel arches (wheel wells).
Door jams were cleaned and the trunk channel was also cleaned. The tires were subsequently dressed with a tire dressing.

 


The washing of the exterior surfaces, by hand using a micro fiber wash mitt was followed by the application of a synthetic wax. This too was applied by hand. This wax serves to protect the paint. As with all vehicles that we clean and detail, the windows were cleaned with a glass cleaning formula on the inside and out.


The leather seats were wiped with a PH balanced treatment to remove dust and light soil. The interior carpet and floor mats were vacuumed to include beneath and between the seats.
 

 

These services were provided for a grand total of $80.00
 

 

~ by Brian on Wednesday, June 02, 2010 at 5:24pm.

Back to Top
Permalink

This is what you get .....

When I speak to prospective clients. I am always challenged in expressing to them what I actually do in the performance of detailing a vehicle. Just saying washing waxing and polishing seems not enough.It does not convey a fraction of what is involved. This deficiency comes out even more when someone says “ so what do I get for that price “. It’s hard to communicate the time spent and process involved in attempting to improve the overall cleanliness, paint gloss, reduction of scratches or the removal of odors. I am always think how can I get this across well sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. So a minute ago I saw this shot and I thought “here is a start.


The image below is a section of a Tahoe I am working on,it has over 200,000 miles on the odometer . The green tape in the image was place there to protect the rubber between the door from getting the polisher or polish on it. The rubber can become damaged upon contact with the polisher or stained from the polish itself.


How does this help in answering the above question, well when your car comes to Brians Exclusive Detail it is handled by a professional who cares and is committed to the best possible outcome and care of your vehicle.

 


~ by Brian on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 3:54pm.

Back to Top
Permalink

September 2010

Archive by Date