Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is to be taken over by a Chinese firm.

Chinese car maker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group will pay Volvo's current owner Ford 1.8 billion dollars. The US car firm paid 6.5 billion dollars for Volvo eleven years ago. It wants to get rid of the Swedish car make because of the collapse of the car market.

The Chinese say they will keep Volvo car plants in Sweden and Belgium open. They will also look into whether Volvos can be developed for the Chinese market and plan to open a factory in Beijing.

Geely is China's tenth biggest carmaker and employs 12,000 workers. Volvo employs 22,000 people throughout the world.

The deal underlines the opportunities for small players as a result of the financial crisis. In January tiny Dutch sports car maker Spyker bought Sweden's Saab from General Motors.