One of our readers, J.D, works at Volvo Cars. He sent us a comment about the Geely take-over and the mixed emotions it has aroused amongst the people in Gothenburg.

"It is good and understandable to be patriotic and protective of national icons, but this should not be at the expense of common sense. Sweden's Volvo Cars has after all been owned by an American company since 1999.

I have no doubt that there were similar concerns when Volvo Cars was sold to Ford. That was a significant transition, but in the long run it has not been the cataclysm that many predicted. In fact, it has turned out to safe guard Volvo, especially during the last several years of poor financial performance. When you look at the disaster that General Motors ownership of Saab has inflicted, we are indeed in a good position. In fact, with the continued investments Ford has made in the future product program of Volvo Cars we are now in a position where we can now prosper into the future, under new ownership.

I for one am very pleased that a company with such aggressive ambitions is the purchaser of Volvo Cars. There should be less feeling for optimism and much more reason of insecurity and concern if a consortium was in the pole position to own this company. We need to be owned by a car company, and with Geely we have a small but growing car company, with huge ambitions for the future. They see an investment in Volvo Cars as a key to that future ambition.

We need to start looking at the whole picture from a different perspective. China is the new economy of the world, and in time will be larger that the US or EU economies. Whilst the world has been in recession China has been experiencing double digit growth, and has been since 2003. It is really astounding, and one that most people in the west simply cannot understand or grasp it. America jitters, Europe wobbles, Japan trembles, yet China keeps on powering. The balance of global economic power is shifting decidedly east. This seems to be a real struggle for a lot of Swedes to understand.

Volvo's new owners will bring with them a completely new mind set. When we talk about ambition in the west we refer to maybe 3% growth. For our new owners, there will be no limit to the growth potential of the company. It is a completely different attitude, and frankly it is an exciting perspective.

The fear that Geely would come in and destroy the brand is simply fanciful, illogical and frankly prejudiced. Why would any company spend up to $2 billion only to tear it up by destroying the brand they have just purchased? It simply is illogical. Geely have ambitions to be a serious world player on the automotive stage, and the purchase of Volvo Cars is their first major step in their plans. They will not erode a corner stone of their own strategy.

I am no expert on China, but I have had the privilege of working there for 4 years with Volvo Cars. From that experience I have seen the ambition that the Chinese have, and it is really amazing. When the Chinese set their mind to doing something, they will get it done. I believe overall, that people need to be far more open minded about possible opportunities that being owned by Geely could provide. I certainly see Geely as being a huge positive for Volvo Cars."