Sweet deals are made of this say Ford and Volvo heads

On the face of it, Jac Nasser and Leif Johansson, the chief executives of Ford and Volvo, are as different as the cars their companies build.

Tall and patrician, Mr Johansson is the epitome of the high-flying international businessman. The son of a former boss of SKF, one of Sweden's leading industrial groups, educated in the US and Sweden, Mr Johansson ran Electrolux, Europe's biggest white goods maker, before moving to Volvo two years ago.

Mr Nasser, by contrast, is an energetic, Lebanese-born Australian who retains a distinctive Down-Under twang despite his many years in Detroit. His style is informal, freewheeling. Born in the Lebanese village of Amyun, his family moved to Melbourne when he was four.

But it is the similarities between the two executives that sprang to the surface as Ford's $6.45 billion (€5.7 billion) cash takeover of Volvo's cars division unfolded last week. Mr Nasser has spent his entire working life at Ford, the world's second biggest carmaker, in which the founding Ford family still owns a significant stake.

Mr Johansson has also spent most of his life working for one of his country's leading business dynasties. Until his surprise move to run Volvo in 1997, he spent much of his career working for companies controlled by the Wallenberg family empire.

Both men have proved their worth in the course of their careers. Mr Nasser (51), who has been little known outside Ford and automotive circles until fairly recently, sprang to attention when he helped implement an ambitious, but initially disorganised, plan to restructure Ford's production systems known as Ford 2000.

Until the mid-1990s, Ford was more an alliance of individual regional fiefdoms, run by powerful local bosses, than a coherent global manufacturer.

With the remorseless rise of manufacturing and research and development costs, Ford 2000 set out to rationalise the group's range on to a much smaller number of basic engineering structures. The company pulled its US and international operations under one umbrella and simplified engineering to achieve big cost-savings. It concentrated on global product development at a limited number of "vehicle centres", which could then be customised with different body styles to suit local tastes. The plan resulted in a more nimble, global organisation.

Mr Johansson faced similar challenges at Electrolux, a multinational that had not capitalised on its potential economies of scale. His supporters say Mr Johansson's reforms helped to put the group on the path to greater profitability.

The two men represent a new breed of executive in the motor industry. In common with the "petrol-heads" who have periodically guided the world's leading carmakers, they are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the cars they sell.

But the Swede and the Australian also have the financial acumen of modern international chief executives and marketing savvy, which has given them the confidence to challenge accepted wisdom in the industry.

Mr Johansson's decision to sell one of the country's industrial icons has been heavily questioned. Although the company will retain the Volvo brand for trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and jet engines, to many Swedes, Volvo without cars is like Vikings without helmets.

Mr Johansson is unmoved by such criticisms. His focus throughout has been on profitability and improving returns for the group's shareholders.

With sales of only 400,000 cars a year, Mr Johansson argues, Volvo was too small to survive in the cut-throat global car business, where new models can cost billions of dollars to develop. Instead, Mr Johansson decided it would be best to reinvest the sale proceeds in the group's other commercial activities, where margins are much higher.

The two men last week presented their deal as a success all round. Mr Johansson stressed the potential for the rest of the group now it has Ford's cash in the bank. Although his immediate acquisition target appears to be Scania, which combined with Volvo would create the world's biggest heavy truck group, that may not be the end of the story.

Judging by the rise in the share price of rival truckmakers - as well as some companies in other industrial sectors in which Volvo could be interested - Mr Johansson's reputation as a dealmaker could be every bit as strong as Mr Nasser's.