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3 bids for JAGUAR/ROVER

grober

grober

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Just heard on the radio this morning that 3 potential buyers for Jaguar/Landrover have been confirmed. One is an unnamed consortium the other two are Indian TATA who bought the steel maker Corus and gave us the "city rover" a while back. http://www.tata.com/ The other is MAHINDRA and MAHINDRA http://www.mahindra.com/index.asp who make tractors among other things ( shades of Lamborghini here?) Ford have said that they are unwilling to split the 2 makes up and are selling them as a package deal. No mention of Volvo at present. An Indian motoring journalist speculated that production would initially remain in the UK with perhaps some cars being assembled in India, but in the longer term???????:(
 
Well to be honest - what did you expect? The only countries awash with cash are India and China. They have to move it into real assets or they are in danger of having to revalue their currencies. I am surprised that the Chinese havent made a move. Volvo is the only premium brand earning good profits for Ford so I would be surprised to see this sold...but stranger things have happened and no-one really knows how much Ford's back is against the wall.
 
Jaguar are a strong brand crying out for decent investment.

I hope whoever buys Jaguar/Land Rover make more of the heritage than Ford have.
 
Rose Chap said:
Jaguar are a strong brand crying out for decent investment.

I hope whoever buys Jaguar/Land Rover make more of the heritage than Ford have.
Click to expand...

It did no good to Jaguar when the first Ford owned versions came on the market with Ford switches in the console
 
Jaguar brand has been dragged through a muddy road. I hope who ever buys it doesn't do the same mistake.
Jaguar was once one of the very few that had the capacity to build a V12. Today they have Peugeot Diesel powered stations to take kids to school. Nothing wrong about Peugeot Diesel engines and taking kids to school, but for a make that won LeMans in the good and the hard old days and produced such cars as the XK120, MK2, e-Type, and XJ's, it's a bit odd to say the least. Look at what Fiat did to Maserati. Why coulnd't Ford do something like that? If you look carefully, both brands had similar pedigree and shared the same market. Running after a easy buck has bad results on the long run - Rover is a good example. I never liked Ford's philosophy of doing things. It's a "bit money is everything".
 
Rose Chap said:
Jaguar are a strong brand crying out for decent investment.

I hope whoever buys Jaguar/Land Rover make more of the heritage than Ford have.
Click to expand...
BSA motor bikes were a good brand but times move on and companies must surely keep up with the times. I really cannot remember when Jaguar were a reliable car. I have driven a few and 'blown up' most (mechanical, not using explosives :)) Ford have tried, but perhaps their brand name did not do Jaguar any favours? I am no fan of our famous brand names going to the Far East but should we be asking why, why are they not successful and what can be done to rectify this problem?
 
Its not often that I post into any of these sorts threads but we were having a conversation at work only a few days ago about peoples perceptions of quality, quedos(?:crazy: ) and aspirational brands etc.

Most people here who are in the 25/45 year old bracket, including females, dont see anything particularly good or worth getting carried away about with manufacturers such as Jaguar/Rover/MG etc. They see them as very much old school and part of a 60's or Sweeny/Jack Reagan era. Cars made either by hairy blokes for hairy blokes or made by ex RAF boffins for old men.

Thats the problem, I as a 52 YO can see the heritage and tradition being worth the cost of keeping them British but its the new generation/s that are turning their backs on this type of nostagia or market.

Purely and observation mind, I love MG's personally.

Portzy.
 
television said:
I have no idea on that one, was there the same thing going on
Click to expand...

It was a slightly tongue in cheek post. :D

The Chrylser 300C diesel is on a W210 floorpan with the latest V6 320CDI engine and MB five speed transmission. Dyed in the wool "Good Ole Boys" might object to the German components.
 
DieselE said:
It was a slightly tongue in cheek post. :D

The Chrylser 300C diesel is on a W210 floorpan with the latest V6 320CDI engine and MB five speed transmission. Dyed in the wool "Good Ole Boys" might object to the German components.
Click to expand...
It might use some Mercedes bits but with the greatest of respect it is not a Mercedes. :devil: :)

John
 
Overall Fords ownership surely did Jaguar more Good than bad.

Over the last few years Jaguar have some very good models. May be the branding was as much to blame as everything else.

Ford turned Aston Martins future around and sold it for millions more than it bought it for.

I peronally think that even though the X-Type was a good car they missed a trick by not increasing the range with a high performance 'R' model.
 
DieselE said:
It was a slightly tongue in cheek post. :D

The Chrylser 300C diesel is on a W210 floorpan with the latest V6 320CDI engine and MB five speed transmission. Dyed in the wool "Good Ole Boys" might object to the German components.
Click to expand...
I honestly have no idea what is going on at Chrysler since scumbag sold his
 
Jaguar was on its kneees at the time of the Ford take-over. Its cars were rust-prone and unreliable. The best that could be said of them is that at least they were desirable.

Ford has pumped squillions in and - certainly when I was working with them - you would not find a Jaguar employee who would speak in anything but the highest praise for what Ford had done for the company.

Personally, I think the company lacked imagination and perhaps Ford is guilty of watering the brand down but I think that, unless somebody had stepped in when Ford did, Jaguar would simply have joined that list of great British marques that fell by the wayside.

Philip
 
prprandall51 said:
Personally, I think the company lacked imagination and perhaps Ford is guilty of watering the brand down but I think that, unless somebody had stepped in when Ford did, Jaguar would simply have joined that list of great British marques that fell by the wayside.

Philip
Click to expand...

When Dad used to work for Ford at Dunton's engineering plant he would come across many colleagues with the same opinion.

It's a shame that we Brits don't follow the French with their loyalty towards their own countries manufacturers. However, I can understand why we don’t, or rather, why we didn’t buy British.
 
I agree Ford almost certainly saved Jaguar from an untimely death, but consider Jaguar's position in the marketplace. In my opinion it should be competing against Audi, BMW, our very own Mercedes-Benzes and in some cases Porsches and Maseratis.

However, where is the Jaguar 4x4? Why are there so few diesel models? How come they still have electric aerials on their flagship coupes?

They need investment in order to catch back up with the competition. If I want to l replace my CLK I have the option of a 3 series coupe, an A5, or another CLK. Where is the equivalent Jag?
 
portzy said:
Its not often that I post into any of these sorts threads but we were having a conversation at work only a few days ago about peoples perceptions of quality, quedos(?:crazy: ) and aspirational brands etc.

Most people here who are in the 25/45 year old bracket, including females, dont see anything particularly good or worth getting carried away about with manufacturers such as Jaguar/Rover/MG etc. They see them as very much old school and part of a 60's or Sweeny/Jack Reagan era. Cars made either by hairy blokes for hairy blokes or made by ex RAF boffins for old men.

Thats the problem, I as a 52 YO can see the heritage and tradition being worth the cost of keeping them British but its the new generation/s that are turning their backs on this type of nostagia or market.

Purely and observation mind, I love MG's personally.

Portzy.
Click to expand...

Question is will folks in the UK and USA still buy JAGS and Range Rovers when they are built in India or will the "cachet" of " Built in the UK " which still counts for a lot with buyers in this part of the market disappear? :confused:

I am talking perception here not fact.
 
grober said:
Question is will folks in the UK and USA still buy JAGS and Range Rovers when they are built in India or will the "cachet" of " Built in the UK " which still counts for a lot with buyers in this part of the market disappear? :confused:

I am talking perception here not fact.
Click to expand...

Probably not would be my guess, based purely on perception and the kudos factor. As I said, I work with a relatively young crew with plenty of disposable who are very switched on to ''cachet'' and they seem to have no allegience to what I would call motoring heritage and good old British manufacturing traditions.

They watch stuff like Top Gear, JC says Ferrari or Porsche are the way to go and bingo, they associate those brands with instant cachet. Fair enough I guess with those two brands but something similar happened with the Hyundai Getz, (:confused:) I believe. The same people here, (where I work), say they would not touch a W203 saloon because someone said it was put together in Africa, (maybe it is?) crazy I know but thats how fickle some folks are.

Portzy.
 
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grober said:
I am talking perception here not fact.
Click to expand...
Excellent point but knowing what good business skills the Chinese have or maybe the Indians, will they care? Labour costs will be a pitance and I don't suppose they will pay very much for the name or tooling?

John
 
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