The Ford Motor Company and the Chinese automaker, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said Wednesday that they had settled “all substantive” details on a sale of Volvo, clearing the way for Geely to buy Ford’s Swedish unit.

The automakers said that while final documentation, financing and government approvals remain to be completed, “Ford and Geely anticipate that a definitive sale agreement will be signed in the first quarter of 2010, with closing of the sale likely to occur in the second quarter of 2010, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals.”

The companies did not disclose a price. “That kind of detail will come when we have a definitive agreement,” a Ford spokesman in London, John Gardiner, said.