Ford subtracts Volvo, makes Blue Oval main focus

Ford Motor Co's sale of its Volvo unit this year will leave the No. 2 U.S. automaker with no luxury brand outside North America.

But does Ford even need one?

At least for now, analysts say no. They may bemoan a lost opportunity to integrate the money-losing Swedish brand Volvo into Ford, but they see an even sharper focus on the "Blue Oval" Ford brand as key to sustaining the company's turnaround.

Ford is farther along in an overhaul of its vehicle lineup than rivals General Motors Co GM.UL and Chrysler Group LLC, which went through government-supported bankruptcies in 2009. Ford posted a small profit last year and expects a profit for 2010.

The money-losing Volvo became a casualty of Ford's unswerving focus on its mass-market Ford brand and its balance sheet for the turnaround under Chief Executive Alan Mulally.

"We aren't really counting on doing anything other than focusing on the Blue Oval," Ford global marketing chief Jim Farley said in an interview at the Geneva Motor Show in early March.

Farley said he sees an opportunity for Lincoln and Mercury to go farther than Ford has gone on the premium side of the business, but the automaker is "just getting started" in developing the Ford brand portfolio around the world.

"Our strategy is not to develop a globalized Infiniti or a globalized Lexus; we want to get Ford to the point where we feel like we have fully realized its capability as a brand," Farley said of the luxury brands from Nissan Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp respectively.

Ford borrowed more than $23 billion in late 2006 to support its turnaround, securing what Mulally has called a home improvement loan with most of its remaining assets, including the Blue Oval logo.

Ford executives have described the turnaround cautiously as in its early stages. A big part of Ford's restructuring has aimed at stripping complexity and jettisoning loss-making units that include luxury brands acquired during boom years.