Ford Motor Sells Land Rover, Jaguar to India's Tata

[68Vette]

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. is selling its Jaguar and Land Rover businesses to India's Tata Motors Ltd. in a $2.3 billion deal — less than half the price that the struggling Ford paid for the two luxury brands.

"Jaguar and Land Rover are terrific brands," Ford CEO Alan Mulally said in a statement. "We are confident that they are leaving our fold with the products, plan and team to continue to thrive under Tata's stewardship.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080326/...ge/ford_jaguar

[steinravnik]

Ford Motor Sells Land Rover, Jaguar to India's Tata

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the world's third- largest automaker, agreed to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors Ltd. for less than half what it paid for the two brands as demand for the luxury vehicles drops.

Tata, India's biggest truckmaker, will pay $2.3 billion, while Ford will pay about $600 million at closing to the Jaguar Land Rover pension funds, the companies said today.

Ford is ending its investment in U.K. brands as the U.S. housing slump and job losses curb demand for models such as the $80,000 Jaguar XK. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company, which lost $15.3 billion in the past two years, bought Jaguar in 1989 for $2.5 billion and Land Rover in 2000 for $2.73 billion.

``Ford's financial situation is so severe it simply can't afford to sustain the two companies any longer,'' said Peter Schmidt, managing director of U.K. consulting firm Automotive Industry Data. ``Jaguar has been nothing but a financial millstone. For sport utility vehicles the situation looks extremely grim in America but still healthy in emerging markets, so for Tata getting hold of Land Rover is pretty logical.''

Ford first began investing in U.K. brands when it bought Aston Martin in 1987. The automaker sold Aston last year.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...T8Q&refer=home

[SUPERBADD75]

i hate to see those marques go to an Indian company. i can't believe that there are no British investors interested in saving at least part of England's automotive heritage. amazing.

[JVal14]

Dropping Land Rover makes perfect sense, but I still think Jaguar had a lot of value that wasn't being properly utilized. It would be a priceless asset for someone who knows what to do with it.

[stevecmh]

its a shame to see GM and Ford selling everything off..
But i guess it has to be done.
Now all of England's car brands are owned by India.. What will Clarkson say..

[Ambalanche]

I wonder if when you call Jaguar or Land Rover's customer service or Roadside assistance if you will go to an Indian Call Center?!!! BAHAHAHAA!!

[Bravada]

Dropping Land Rover makes perfect sense, but I still think Jaguar had a lot of value that wasn't being properly utilized. It would be a priceless asset for someone who knows what to do with it.

Landy actually was profitable all along, they had to sell them in bundle... Jag was also profitable last year... I guess savings of the same magnitude could've been made by reshuffles in the Ford board...

[PontiacBixler]

Originally Posted by stevecmh

its a shame to see GM and Ford selling everything off..
But i guess it has to be done.
Now all of England's car brands are owned by India.. What will Clarkson say..

Kinda fitting wouldn't you say since Great Britain couldn't keep their noses out of India at the turn of the century?

[ghughes]

You know, I am really getting tired of everyone slagging on our native american community just because they bought jag-?

[Rocket 88]

Originally Posted by Bravada

Landy actually was profitable all along, they had to sell them in bundle... Jag was also profitable last year... I guess savings of the same magnitude could've been made by reshuffles in the Ford board...

Are you sure that is correct?

Jaguar sales were down 18% in 2007 to 60,485. I couldn't find financial results for 2007 but read Jaguar lost 715 million dollars in 2006. How could they have dropped 18% in sales and turn around a $ 715 million dollar loss?

Land Rover was up 19% in 2007 with sales of 226,395. I read they were have been profitable, but couldn't find specific info.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

Originally Posted by SUPERBADD75

i hate to see those marques go to an Indian company. i can't believe that there are no British investors interested in saving at least part of England's automotive heritage. amazing.

Agreed. I'm also surprised no British investment group didn't step in to buy MG.

My fear now is that India is now primed to be another competitor, thrown in with Japan, China and Europe.

[Lunden]

Originally Posted by stevecmh

its a shame to see GM and Ford selling everything off..
But i guess it has to be done.
Now all of England's car brands are owned by India.. What will Clarkson say..

Ummmm... Wrong....

Rolls is owned by BMW and Bently is owned by VW I believe.

[diurnal618]

Originally Posted by ghughes

You know, I am really getting tired of everyone slagging on our native american community just because they bought jag-?

what?!

[kenman923]

Ford is taking a big hit on the sale, but it seem's their aim is to raise cash. I would have preferred to see Jaguar/Land Rover sold to Daimler, although they are still reeling from the Chrysler disaster. Time will tell how the Tata ownership will affect the brands.

[tgagneguam]

The net proceeds aren't enough to rescue Ford's finances, but the sale will allow the company to focus on its core Ford brands, Merkle said.

Statements like these remind me of the kids in college who couldn't hack the curriculum, so they dropped several courses to concentrate on getting good grades in their few remaining courses. Somehow, they never seemed to be able to pull A's. Of course, it wasn't the number of courses they were taking that was the problem.

The number of divisions isn't the problem, per se, for Ford. It's lack of vision and capability on the part of managers. If they're going to screw up 19 divisions, they're going to screw up one, too. When Ford sets to building its brands with competent product, they will succeed, no matter how many divisions they may have to manage.