FROM BLOOMBERG:  Ford Motor Co. plans to complete its sale of Volvo Cars to China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Co. next week, finishing the U.S. automaker’s exit from European luxury brands, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Ford is selling Volvo to Geely for $1.8 billion, less than one-third of what it paid for the Swedish automaker in 1999. Ford and Geely executives are aiming to close the sale next week, pending final regulatory approvals and financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing internal plans.

Unloading Volvo would complete Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally’s strategy of exiting European luxury lines to focus on Ford’s namesake brand. Since arriving from Boeing Co. in 2006, Mulally has sold Aston Martin, Land Rover and Jaguar, which Ford acquired in 1989 as the first of a stable of premium nameplates that failed to generate the profits the automaker expected. MORE»

FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL:  I visited Volkswagen’s electric-car skunk works in Silicon Valley last week and there to my surprise was the co-Founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors. Mark Eberhard suffered a very public sacking from Tesla a couple of years ago at the hands of the company’s major financial backer and current CEO, Elon Musk. Eberhard is now on the VeeDub payroll working on batteries for the future VW electric car.

Eberhard has been one of Silicon Valley’s bright lights since the mid-1980s as a computer engineer with a number of successful startups under his belt and untold millions in the bank. He is brash, outspoken and supremely confident in his opinions. “It is just barely possible to build an electric car today. You can only make a certain type of car and only for a certain type of people.” The problem is the batteries, I presume. “It’s ALL about the batteries,” said Eberhard. MORE»

FROM CNN MONEY:  The latest chapter in the all-but-quixotic effort to revive Saab cars by its new owners played out this week with the media launch of the Saab 9-5 Aero.

That Saab has survived at all while other, better known GM brands — Hummer, Pontiac, and Saturn — collapsed during the GM bankruptcy is a testimony to either dumb luck or sheer stubbornness.

Now the automaker faces the equally daunting task of reestablishing itself as a legitimate competitor in the luxury space after halting production and advertising for months — and thus nearly vanishing from the consciousness of potential customers. MORE»

FROM REUTERS:  Ford Motor Co chief executive Alan Mulally said on Monday the company was “cautiously optimistic” that it would continue to grow as the U.S. economy recovers.

“This is a slower recovery from the previous recessions,” Mulally said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “We have sized ourselves to the current demand and we’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to continue to grow here.”

Asked if he thought the United States was likely to experience a “double dip” recession, Mulally said:

“We do not. I think with the monetary and the fiscal policy, and everybody’s attention on growing the economy … I think that we’re going to have good, steady growth here.” MORE»

FROM THE OC REGISTER:  Consider this another bit of fresh breath for the storied Jeep brand: Chrysler has announced that it will be the first original equipment maker to build and sell a camper trailer that’s as off-road capable as the vehicles it makes to tow the things.

The trailers feature a pop-up tent, storage compartment and plenty of ground clearance via its pair of all-terrain tires. The units are made to sleep four adults and feature a queen-size bed, sofa, stowable table and 110-volt power supply.

Two versions of the trailers will be offered when they go on sale in August. The Jeep Trail Edition will cost $9,995 and features 12 inches of ground clearance and 32-inch BF Goodrich Mud Terrain Tires.  MORE»

FROM USA TODAY:  That alley cat smudging your shiny new Chevrolet Camaro again with his annoying little paw prints? Even from inside your house, now you’ll be able to honk the car’s horn to send kitty fleeing — from your mobile phone.

General Motors is announcing it is again expanding OnStar’s latest features today, the ability to operate key functions of cars remotely from smart phones. Owners of new Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC vehicles who subscribe to the service will be able to do things like start their car remotely, honk the horn or turn on the lights and unlock the doors from their own mobile devices, not just the car’s key fob. Previously, these kinds of functions were only announced as coming to a single new vehicle, Chevy’s extended-range electric Volt, due in December.  MORE»