Renault, Dongfeng likely to bid for Volvo Cars

Renault SA, Dongfeng Motor Group Co. or Changan Automobile (Group) Ltd. may acquire Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo Cars unit, Dagens Industri reported, without saying where it got the information.

Ford and Volvo Cars met with their investment bankers in London this past week, and the three automakers were deemed "serious" enough to be allowed to see confidential information about future Volvo Cars models, the newspaper reported, without saying where it got the information.

"Nothing is happening at the moment between Renault and Volvo Cars," Renault spokeswoman Frederique Le Greves told Bloomberg News today by phone. “We're not in contact neither with them nor with Ford on this topic."

Volvo Cars spokeswoman Maria Bohlin said the company never comments on "media speculation."

Volvo Cars is a separate company from Gothenburg, Sweden- based Volvo AB, the world's second-largest truckmaker. Renault is France's second-biggest automaker, and Dongfeng is China's third-biggest. Changan manufactures Volvo cars in China in a partnership with Ford.