Posted on 06/12/2007 1:45:11 PM PDT by Spktyr
Ford Motor plans to sell Jaguar and Land Rover, its two British luxury brands, in an apparent step back from premium carmaking.
Ford has asked Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC to advise on the sale, which is said to be in early stages and does not include Volvo, the third luxury brand in its Premier Automotive Group.
The lossmaking car company’s share price was trading 1.5 per cent higher at $8.36 on Monday afternoon after news of the sale emerged. Ford is understood to be selling the two brands jointly.
Jaguar and Land Rover’s vehicles do not share common architecture but the brands share purchasing and some other functions. Land Rover’s Freelander 2 is made in the same facility in Halewood, England as Jaguar’s X-type range.
In March Ford sold control of Aston Martin, the sports car marque, to a Kuwaiti-led consortium in a £479m (€706m) deal that included its own retained minority stake, worth £40m.
The company declined to comment yesterday on what it called “speculation”.
Analysts were uncertain of how much Ford may get for the brands, whose earnings it consolidates with those of Volvo and Aston Martin. Ford’s premium PAG group reported a pre-tax loss last year of $327m.
Land Rover, which sold a record 192,500 vehicles in 2006, is said to be profitable, but Jaguar, which is refreshing its line-up in an effort to regain market share, is losing money. “It may be ‘buy one, get one free’,” said a person familiar with the two brands.
The sale is likely to draw interest from buy-out groups following last month’s $7.4bn sale of lossmaking US carmaker Chrysler to private equity group Cerberus.
Analysts said that many established carmakers would balk at taking on the two brands, whose large, powerful vehicles are costly to develop at a time of rising curbs on car emissions.
Fiat Auto and Renault yesterday denied any interest in them.
News of the sale followed months of denials by Ford that it was looking to offload the two brands, and its timing surprised some observers. “They may be saying, ‘It’s time to get back to what we know: volume car production,’” said Eric Wallbank, an automotive specialist with Ernst & Young in London.
Ford has never "gotten" Jaguar. They've kept adulterating the brand, and now it's come home to roost.
What is the AFA boycott you mention? I boycott Ford because their vehicles are almost always a POS.
Heh. I’m just trying to forestall the otherwise-inevitable AFA boycott spam.
No mention of Mazda.
I doubt they’ll sell Mazda. Or Volvo - too much shared tech and platforms.
Right now, it looks like they’re going to dissolve PAG.
No more Sables with the Jag emblems LOL
Ford is coming out with a new 2008 Taurus this summer that’s receiving high ratings.
That was my understanding as well. I'd guess the Ford management just couldn't grasp the whole Jaguar mystique etc. They know how to make four or five variations on the same platform, give each a different name and badge, then price them accordingly. Actually creating a unique, exclusive design to be sold in only one market segment must be quite foreign to their thinking.
Pretty much helps me chose my next car... Another Jeep! I had no idea about the AFA boycott, but I did google it. Thanks for the 411 on it, I'll email it out as soon as I'm done here.
The current XJ8 is a wonderful vehicle. (Mrs. MWT has one. All alumnium and a great V8.) Nary a mechanical problem.
The S-typeR (which is not the Sable, that’s the X-type) is also a hell of a car with the big V-8.
As an aside, they recently did a study an something upwards of 90% of Jag owners self-identified themselves as conservative Republicans.
I took a chance this time around and bought a new Ford Fusion. I’ve got 22K on it so far, and I’ve been impressed with not only how it runs, but the fit and finish as well.
Have you had the gas tank recall done? Also, you are aware that the car is merely *glued* together, right?
The S-Type with the V8 isn’t a bad car. It’s pretty bad with the V6, though.
The X-Type isn’t a Sable (though it looks it). It’s a Ford Contour/Mondeo.
They owned Jaguar just long enough to mess it up.
The Fusion is an example of Ford doing it right. It’s a good car. Unfortunately, most of the other things Ford makes *aren’t*.
Ford’s best current engineering is in their adaptation of the Volvo (and Mazda) designs to their current range of offerings.
There was just no way that the Land Rover or the Jaguar designs could be integrated with the current trends of design that Ford is emphasizing, without turning both marques into a poor and near-unrecognizable parody of their former glory.
Ford Motor Company provides the “everyman” car, the lowest common denominator, of which neither Land Rover nor Jaguar was philosophically attuned with.
In twenty years, Ford, like GM, will simply be rebranding a vehicle designed and built entirely in China or India.
No, we asked, and Mrs. MWT’s vehicle was not part of any recall (unless they just did it when we went in).
We have the Super V8 (has TVs, which is a key issue with the kiddies), so maybe that’s not part of it.
‘I doubt they’ll sell Mazda. Or Volvo - too much shared tech and platforms.’
Volvo is also going up for sale - rumour has it BMW want to buy it along with Saab from GM. Ford of Europe is also apparently cancelling the excellent Focus ST which uses a Volvo five cylinder turbo 222hp unit. The only reason anyone can see for this is because they know they are about to lose their supply of Volvo engines.
ok, I should clarify....the starter model is a sable with a personality disorder.
No, Ford really staighted out quality control at Jag.
The new 4.2 V8 used Jag and certain Land Rovers is wonderful.
What year is yours? The 04-06 cars had the problem where the gas tank would spontaneously rupture and spill fuel all over the ground or garage floor.
Also, I hope you purchased the extended warranty, as the transmission in XJ tends to be problematic *just* after the warranty expires.
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