Geely Gets EU Okay to Buy Volvo, Pilfers VW's Jacoby

Geely Gets EU Okay to Buy Volvo, Pilfers VW's Jacoby

China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, whose deal to purchase Volvo Cars from Ford Motor Co. was approved by European Union regulators this week, also took another big step toward becoming a major player on the world stage - by stealing away a high-level executive from the Volkswagen Group.

Stefan Jacoby's abrupt, unexplained departure as head of VW's U.S. operations is all the more remarkable due to the fact that he accomplished a makeover for VW in relatively short order.

With the talented Jacoby now gone to run Volvo, VW must quickly find a replacement who can hold U.S. operations on course toward its goal of becoming a mainstream, rather than a niche, seller of cars.

Jacoby managed to uproot VW's long-entrenched headquarters from suburban Detroit and replace much of the managerial ranks, open a new headquarters near Washington, D.C., nearly complete an assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee and chart a new - and potentially, promising - product strategy for gaining share in the U.S. market.

Prior to Jacoby's arrival in 2007, VW for years had lost money and floundered in the U.S. thanks to haphazard management that never quite seemed to grasp there is a limited number of midmarket American shoppers who will buy vehicles designed foremost for German tastes. The Chattanooga plant will build a midsize sedan that will be much closer to what Americans expect than the current Passat - although the new model may continue with the Passat name.

Geely may have been impressed by Jacoby's drive and creativity in his relatively short U.S. tenure, enlisting him on the strength of that record to reinvigorate Volvo and thus elevate a Chinese automaker for the first time to the front ranks of world automakers. - Doron Levin, contributing writer

Photos

1. 2011 Volvo S60 (courtesy Volvo Cars)

2. Stephan Jacoby

Bill Visnic:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter