Volvo sale will let Ford focus on rebuilding: CFO

Ford Motor Co's sale of its Volvo car unit to China's Geely will leave the automaker free to focus on a recovery that is still in its early stages, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said on Tuesday.

Ford started the sale process on the Swedish brand about 15 months ago when the automaker was reporting record annual losses and the U.S. economy was in a downturn. Since then, Ford posted a profit in 2009 and expects another in 2010.

But two quarters of positive cash flow do not make a recovery and the sale is "not about Volvo, it is about fixing Ford," Booth told reporters on the sidelines of the Geneva Motor Show.

"We still have a huge amount to do to repair the Ford business," he said.

Ford expects to sign a definitive agreement with Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, parent of publicly listed Geely Automobile by the end of March on Volvo. Ford expects to complete the deal by the end of June.

A price has not been publicly announced but is expected to be about $1.5 billion to $2 billion, far below the $6.45 billion that Ford paid for the Swedish brand in 1999.

Ford remains focused on cutting a large debt load it took on in late 2007 to finance its turnaround plan, as well as on launching new vehicles across the globe.

"We've said -- and we meant it -- that we need to focus all of our management, all of our capital on rebuilding the Ford business," Booth said.