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Land Rover up for sale
datalas:
--- Quote from: "v8kenny" ---Should this not be moved to the "for sale" section ? :lol:
--- End quote ---
No, we wouldn't be able to reply to it then ...
In seriousness, Ford are hemorrhaging money at the moment and lost I think it was $121 million last year, it's not surprising they'd try to sell a division which is easy to sell off. If you think about it, they're both reasonably recent additions to the ford family and don't (or haven't) adopted the ford brand as yet, so getting rid of them isn't going to be as logistically difficult as say selling the ford transit :)
Also, don't forget that both are European companies by and large, where as Ford are bound to protect their core business (the states) before anything over here.
Considering that I think land rover managed to make a profit last year I'd imagine someone will buy them, after all, if you're ford and wanting to recoup some badly needed cash you're not going to try to flog a lemon.
I guess they'll end up being owned by a Russian conglomerate :?
Evilgoat:
--- Quote from: "datalas" ---
--- Quote from: "v8kenny" ---Should this not be moved to the "for sale" section ? :lol:
--- End quote ---
they're both reasonably recent additions to the ford family and don't (or haven't) adopted the ford brand as yet, so getting rid of them isn't going to be as logistically difficult as say selling the ford transit :)
--- End quote ---
*cough*x-type*cough*
V8MoneyPit:
Both brands have now built up a decent reputation after poor times in the past. I don't think there will be any trouble finding a buyer who wants to keep them going.
Jaguar are now regularly in the top few makes for customer satisfaction. A far cry from the '70's and '80's.
Ford have done well with both brands. They have injected money and have lifted the profile of both Jaguar and LR.
It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few days.
Thrasher:
Hmmmm....so let me recall ...
Jaguar used to make sports cars - now they make diesel estates.
Land Rover used to make utility vehicles - now they make sports cars...
Something somewhere is very odd.
Eeyore:
Last year, the losses at Ford stretched into the billions of dollars, but given the cost of developing new models smome proftiability fluctuations are expected.
Sad fact of the matter is that in the US Ford has survived by making money from it's finance department, not from it's manufacturing - which isn't really a plum way of runnin' a manufacturin' company..
Despite having to pay for the development of the Freelander 2 and amortizing the costs of the T5 platform, Land Rover made a return - not to shabby, all things considered. Jaguar didn't fair quite so well, but with paying for two vehilce development programmes in tough, low volume sectors, it's not entirely suprising.
LR could be a good buy for someone - not sure who though. Ford have done the place a lot of good (and Ford Europe makes a healthy profit, too). Maybe with the shift towards greener product lines, Ford don't see a rosy future for luxury saloons or SUVs - the two markets that are getting hit the hardest Stateside.
If it was my money going into LR, I would scale back development on fashionable vehicles (and possibley rationalise product lines a bit) and pay heed a little more to what has been a core market for 50 years. Fashions change, and 4x4s will go out of fashion. The industrial and military market will always want a suitable vehicle - and that's the one trick I think Ford have missed.
As an aside, did anyone else realise the new Focus cost $4 billion to develop and tool? Making cars ain't cheap!
Cheers
8)
Eeyore
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