Ford Motor Company sports car maker Aston Martin in 1989, later selling it on March 12, 2007, although retaining an 8% stake. Ford purchased Volvo Cars of Sweden in 1999, selling it to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in 2010. In November 2008, it reduced its 33.4% controlling interest in Mazda of Japan to a 13.4% non-controlling interest. On November 18, 2010, Ford reduced their stake further to just 3%, citing the reduction of ownership would allow greater flexibility to pursue growth in emerging markets. Ford and Mazda remain strategic partners through exchanges of technological information and joint ventures, including an American joint venture
Geely CK is driven by government officials and police and also available to rental car fleets. The specification includes power windows and air conditioning. Still, they have a reputation for being unreliable and many drivers thus prefer the older, Russian-built vehicles. The CK is based on a South Korean design by Daewoo, Tower Metal, Wooshin Systems, and CES, which Geely licensed. Its 1.5 L engine is a Toyota Motor Corporation design, also licensed. It produces 94 hp (70 kW) at 6000 rpm. The 4 speed automatic transmission is built in China, the first to be manufactured there. In 2008, the facelifted CK