It's officially official and completely complete. Ford has finalized the sale of Land Rover and Jaguar to Tata Motors. And boy are they not excited! In fact, the last sentence of the terse, four paragraph press release reads exactly like a rejection letter: "Ford Motor Company wishes the Jaguar Land Rover management team, its employees and the new owners every success for the future." Automotive News [sub] reveals that David Smith is the new boss of the two former Ford-owned rejects millstones automakers. "Smith is Jaguar and Land Rover's chief financial officer. He has been the company's acting CEO since the April 20 death of CEO Geoff Polites." So, steady as she goes? Yeah right. Anyone want to make any guesses on how long it'll be before we start seeing Tata's influence on the model lineup and the "Jaguar Land Rover management team?" Or they move production from Merrye Olde England to India? Meanwhile, Detroit's profit-drunk SUV party is now, officially over.
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I hope Tata can drive Jaguar and Land Rover to success but I’m not 100% convinced they can!
I still say there could be a silver lining.
Tata is perfectly capable of mass producing the Defender in better quality at much lower prices (albeit without the V8). That is a car that much of the world needs.
Holy hell! Were do I begin?!
Firstly, Jaguar and Land Rover were only millstones because Ford didn’t have a clue how to manage them!
Jaguar are famous for luxury cars and (psuedo) supercars (i.e the Jaguar XK) and what did Ford do with them? Place them in the PAG and told them not to tread on Volvo’s toes (who makes luxury cars) and Aston Martin’s toes (who make super cars). What could Jaguar do?!
Also, Jaguar, despite Ford’s inept management, achieved them following:
Engineered the most reliable, non-japanese car on a platform designed for another car.
Got reliability up to scratch.
Designed the gorgeous XF.
Jaguar are going to flourish under Tata. Which brings me neatly onto my next point.
“Or they move production from Merrye Olde England to India?”
A little research brings up the following:
1. Tata have committed themselves to a 5 year plan when buying Jaguar and Land Rover.
2: Ratan Tata and Tata, as a whole, are famous for turning companies around, WITH THE EXISTING MANAGEMENT.
Corus. Tetley Tea are two good examples.
The reason Ford were so terse in their press statement is because they couldn’t bear a profit out of Jaguar, but they know Tata will…..
Katie,
Where were all the multi-billionaire Brits during this sale? Just wondering.
Landcrusher,
Well, last time I checked, Sir Anthony Bamford wanted to buy Jaguar and NOT Land Rover, which would have been ideal for Ford.
Ford, being their usual, savvy selves, said no.
Again, mismanaging.
Incidentally, what has British multi billionaires got to do with my original post?
Ford had Jag around well before Aston or Volvo. They had much to turnaround including very old designs, lack of resources and money…can’t do that all overnight.
And, in the mean time, the competitors kept moving forward and the Japanese luxury brands became more solidified in the market…and they included reliability and quality that a British car, much less many Euro, could ever dream of.
Ford got both Jag and LR into a shape that made them more attractive to sell and insuring, with new models, that Tata will need to buy parts from Ford until new redesigns are considered.
If Tata did a great job at turning around those two other companies, then I’m sure they’ll continue with Jag and LR’s recent success.
Ford was smart to finally dump the two brands and focus on their core products. Nassar was key in scattering Ford’s focus from core products, he wanted to delve into every part of the auto industry. Produce, sell, fix, make parts, recycle…
Katie,
It really had nothing to do with your post, but when I saw your name on this thread, I wanted to hear the story according to a Brit. Especially one who loves the local car flavors.
Seems to me there is a lot of national pride in the domestics over there, yet the companies keep being sold among foreigners. It’s not like there isn’t any money in Britain, you know.
If it weren’t for good Sir Anthony, one might think the locals knew something the rest of us didn’t.