Bill Pierre Ford

Volvo has been struggling for a while now, and recently the Swedish automaker shed 6,000 jobs to stem the tide of red ink. To make matters more interesting, Volvo could soon be working with a new owner. Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri is quoting unnamed sources as saying Ford could rid itself of Volvo by Easter weekend. The interested parties are rumored to be Dongfeng Motor Group and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co, along with a “European constellation,” whatever that means.

Ford originally purchased Volvo in 1999 for $6.45 billion, but many industry analysts are predicting the Blue Oval won’t get that much money in a sale during a global recession. The move would still bring Ford some desperately needed financial relief to help the 105-year-old automaker weather the recession. For the near term, Volvo is still losing money by the bucket, and it’s working with the European Investment Bank to obtain a $568 million loan that would be backed by the Swedish government.

Ford and city and state authorities have been negotiating the fate of the two plants for a while. The truck plant was reportedlysafe, but the assembly plant’s future was uncertain. Ford has said it will spend over $100 million to retool both of its Louisville plants – it also has a truck plant there that makes Super Duty F-Series vehicles – which will save 6,000 jobs. The conversion is expected to take six months and probably won’t be ready until 2011. A Ford spokeswoman had no comment on reports about the Kuga. Hat tip to Juan