Update: Ford Nets $1.7b From Jag, Land Rover Sales
When the chips fell, Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) went for $2.3b to Tata Motors. After a tumble in Tata's stock price several hours ago (on the Indian exchange), shares in the Indian automaker closed only 0.1% down for the day. And what of Ford's immense legacy costs? The Blue Oval Boyz are reportedly contributing an additional $600m to JLR pension plans. Automotive News [sub] reports that FoMoCo will supply powertrains, technology and dealer financing during transition. If there was any doubt before, it's clear for all to see that Ford was ditching a liability rather than raising operating cash. Given the tens of billions Ford dumped into these two British brands, the sale makes perfect sense. But what now? How does the sale impact product and marketing plans for Lincoln and/or Volvo? And what happens to the brands cut adrift? What of Jag and Land Rover, their image, and future products? Be on the lookout for a full-length editorial exploring these issues…
Immensely bored law student. I've also got 3 dogs.
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I am not to sure about Jag, but I would buy a new Defender 110, even if made in India. The best part about them was the ease of major repair. You can rebuild them ad infinitum. Even if Tata makes them poorly, you can just fix it. Plus, people will stop laughing at the adventure store theme. They should sell less bling, or change their stores to a hip hop, urban jungle theme.
PS A 150 hp diesel is plenty. I don't want to pay for a crap 8 cylinder. If they want to sell 8 cylinder trucks, they should source the engine from an F150, or Chevy. Sadly better reliability, and at a much better price.
Looks like the FoMoCo fire sale continues. Wonder what they'll hock (oops, sorry sell) next to raise cash? They have no assets anyone would wanna buy unless they unload (opps,sorry) sell Volvo and their chunk of Mazda. I predict the next things to go on the auction block for cash raising will be the mansions of the Ford family. Ford is SOL (shit outta luck) otherwise. They have already mortaged everything basically not nalied down. How many yrs. will it be before we see FoMoCo's obit? 2009? 2010? 2011? They'll be in chapter 11 before all this is over and done with. That is a gaurentee!
I have no idea what Tata us going to do with jag, but Land Rover is in pretty good hands. Tata has been building Land Rover knockoffs for over a decade (last time I was in India) and they seemed pretty good to me. Actually, there is more necessity for such a vehicle in India and they have the knowledge to make a durable SUV. Honestly, I would love to see them take LR back to its roots as a simple, bullet-proof truck with nice appointments.