Chinese carmaker Geely is said to be in the final spurt to acquire Sweden-based Volvo Cars from Ford - but analysts are already criticizing the deal.

Geely, the first independent automobile manufacturer in China, is close to tie up a deal with Ford Motor Company where the Chinese carmaker buys the majority of the stocks in Volvo Cars, business daily Dagens Industri writes, without identifying its source.

Ford will remain as a small shareholder. A unknown Swedish investor will also be part of the consortium.

The formal decision to proceed the acquisition process will be made later this month, the newspaper writes.

However, the potential deal is already getting criticized by analysts that doesn’t believe it’s in the best interest for the Chinese automaker.

"I am not optimistic about Geely's chances for Volvo. Is a small Chinese company capable of paying such a big sum for Volvo?" said Zhong Shi, an independent auto analyst based in Beijing, to China Daily.

Previously, Ford has been said to be seeking about $2 billion for Volvo, less then a third of the prize they paid for the company a decade ago. Ford acquired Volvo in 1999 for $6.45 billion from Volvo AB.

"Since Ford is passing through a hard time, it won't sell Volvo at a relatively low price," said Zhong. "It's not worth it for Geely to pay billions of dollars for an ailing foreign auto brand."

Geely, which is on a high-speed development track in the domestic market, earned a profit of 1 billion yuan ($147 million) last year. Geely's total assets were at just over 14 billion yuan.

"Although it will be a shortcut for Geely to foray into Western markets through the acquisition, the Chinese company still faces a series of big challenges," said Jia Xinguang, an auto analyst to the Chinese newspaper.

"Geely has to think over the possible troubles and bottlenecks in management, localization, employment and technology. Is it capable of solving all the questions?" Jia asked.

Ford's spokesman John Gardiner said to AFP: "We're still expecting the process to take some time to unfold."