BEIJING (AP) -- A Chinese partner of Ford Motor Co. is talking to the U.S. automaker about the possible purchase of its Volvo unit, a Chinese newspaper reported Tuesday.
Changan Auto Co.'s president, Xu Liuping, talked with Ford executives about a possible sale at an auto show last month in China, the National Business Daily said, citing an unnamed source at Changan. It gave no other details.
A spokeswoman for Ford Motor (China) Ltd. said Ford was evaluating possible options for Volvo Car Corp. including a possible sale but declined to comment on the Chinese report.
"It will take some months to assess all of our available options," spokeswoman Lynn Ouyang said in a written statement.
Employees who answered the phone at Changan referred calls to a spokesman who they said was unavailable.
Ford is trying to raise money to see the company through a severe slump in the U.S. auto industry. Ford and rivals General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are seeking government aid.
Ford bought Volvo, based in Goteborg, Sweden, in 1999.
Changan and Ford have been joint venture partners in China since 2001.
China's small but ambitious automakers have acquired other foreign brands in an effort to expand abroad.
Nanjing Automobile Group bought Britain's MG-Rover brand in 2006 after its owners went bankrupt. Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp. owns 51 percent of South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Co.
Car sales in China, the world's second-largest auto market, have weakened but not as severely as in the United States.
China's auto sales fell 10.3 percent in November from a year earlier, state media reported Monday, citing industry data. It was the third month out of four that car sales have contracted. Sales rose in October.
Ford sold its Jaguar and Land Rover units to India's Tata Motors Ltd. in March for $1.7 billion.
Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao in Beijing contributed to this story.