OK
I’ll buy it.

What could it possibly be worth? I haven’t seen any reporting on many of the sites that estimate the value of Jaguar? As a business unit, it doesn’t drive profit nor are their pipelines full of inspirational product (although I really like the XK) or it wouldn’t be for sale anyway?

I know the Rolls and Bentley brands were sold basically for the badging at a decent value but that’s an entirely different brand tier.

What do the analysts think that Ford could get for Jag as a stand alone brand (without adding Land Rover to the deal)?

“Hyundai not interested in buying Jaguar.”

Thank God!

I find it funny that nobody is willing to touch jag with a ten foot pole.

not even a hint of interest from ANY manufacturer, and those named as rumored to be interested quickly denounce any interest.

I still say its a good buy for Peugeot

or Proton

Hyundai not interested? LOL
Slap in the face.
What’s next, KIA turns down offer?

Kia and Hyundai are the same company…

Jon.

One of the reasons why Jaguar isn’t being considered by other vehicle makers is that they have a lot of Ford parts-bin components in them, in various guises… it would be prohibitively expensive for any car maker to try to take over Jaguar, because within one generation of cars (est time by me is 8 years to re-tool the entire product line, due to the new XK) they would have to come out with all-new everything for Jaguar.
Why is this? — This is because no self-respecting automaker could live with Ford’s technology in thhe cars, for two reasons — 1. Ford probably has rights (patent technology) on all of the various parts, and Ford may allow a ‘grandfather clause’, where the cars are allowed to continue in their current form until an all-new redesign is due), but after that the new owner will have to pony-up on new designs, and 2. because no automaker would want their cars to be powered by Ford’s technology will under their new management.
We can see this happened previously, by simply looking at the current Range-Rover. At the time of it’s inception, it was designed and built by BMW, and the Range Rover used the X5’s 4.4 Litre engine. However, as soon as Land Rover was bought out by Ford, Ford scrambled to change the design of the engine, so they 1. – didn’t have to pay BMW in royalties for the engine, and 2. so that Ford (Range Rover’s) imagine wouldn’t be tainted by having an engine in it from a comany that no longer owned them. Fortunaetly, that re-tooling was relativel easy, because Ford already had other engines on tap, such as it’s own V8’s, Haguar V8’s etc., so they had a choice.
To retool the entire Jag line-up would probably cost about half a billion per model (minimum), for a total of 2 billion dollars of capital investment before the new owner of Jag even turns one dime of profit (half a billion X 4 model lines – X-type, S-type, XJ, & XK).
I can guess that the reason why Hyundai isn’t biting would be the reason they don’t have a V8 engine to transplant into the new cars once they take ownership. And while Hyundai could arguably have the technology to develop their own V8 for Jaguar, the money would simply be better spent on improving their own product line — remember, Hyundai’s image is improving among consumers, and therfore they don’t even need a ‘Halo’ brand like Jaguar to improve their image — they’re doing it in the free market by releasing better products, and no one driving a Hyundai will ever see the benefits of ‘trickle-down’ technology moving from a Jaguar to their Hyundai.
I honestly believe that Jaguar needs to be either bought by a German company, such as BMW or Audi, or else it needs a consortium of private investors to bail it out of Ford’s hands — one last resort would perhaps be the British government?
ord has done a fantastic job since acquiring Jaguar in 1989 of improving the quality of the cars, and developing technology for the brand, but haven’t been rewarded by their investment in the 18 years they have owned the company. With the all-new of 2004 XJ sales slowing, Jag had one last chance with the XK. I truly hope it sells well, because if it doesn’t, Ford’s going to stop throwing money at Jaguar, and is simply let it going to languish. They simply can’t afford to invest any more money into something that’s not showing the potential that it truly deserves.

*** I was mistaken in the above comment on the Range Rover. Ford wasn’t paying royalties to BMW for the engine, they WERE BUYING THE ENTIRE ENGINE from BMW. Sorry about that.

British government is all free market capitalism, it won’t go near Jaguar Dr*Manhattan. I still say Peugeot Citroen or Proton need a cachet brand, and whatever you think about the product, the brand has equity that those other companies don’t. Renault has Infiniti, but that probably won’t sell in Europe

Betty – I am only aware that Nissan, Renault and Infiniti have an alliance — I honestly don’t know enough about the other brands to make an informed opinion of them buying Jaguar (as they’re not offered in North America, and that’s where I’m from). But I don’t think that Renault (Nissan/Infiniti) would consider Jaguar, because they have their own problems right now in the form of slumping sales and technology that’s starting to get a bit dated.

Yes Ford bought the BMW engines from BMW up untill the middle of 2005. The modified BMW motor at least on the dealership parts side is nearly 18,000 dollars. The modified Jag motor is only around 10,000 dollars or so. Switching to the jag engine let them upgrade everything else on the 2006 Range Rovers without charging anything extra for them. Even the 2007 Range Rovers with the all new interior and Terrain Response won’t cost anymore then the 2006 model.

thank god

everyone thank god and hope Ford sell to someone half decent like Daimlerchrysler

I agree in believing that if Jaguar were to be bought by anyone, the new parent company would have to fund several all-new models by the time the next generations are due, and I think that many people would see this as prohibitively expensive and possibly not worth the investment.

When I first heard about all of this surrounding Jaguar, I thought that it would be cool if BMW bought it. BMW could design several new Jag models based on a few of the great architectures they already possess, and hopefully along the way dropping the awful x-type while shaping the s-type into a more formidable 3-series competitor… oh wait. If you think about it all buying Jag would do is crowd the euro-lux segment. I can’t really see how BMW would successfully market the brand without directly competing with their own .At first I was thinking that since BMW doesn’t want to down-market RR, they might be interested in expanding their marketshare in a segment they have a lot of positive experience in. The cash would probably be available to fund all this, and of course they would for sure work to greatly improve the marque’s currently (relatively) ****ty image. But at the same time I’d rather see that (very large) amount of money go towards new BMW models instead (z2, z6, z8, x6!).

In the end it’d probably be better if some wealthy, smart and probably Asian car company bought Jaguar and worked on being a more direct competitor to the likes of BMW, as opposed to BMW competing with itself. However I still think that BMW-made Jags would be awesome.

BMW dumped Rover which didn’t even compete in the same sector as themselves. BMW Doesn’t need or want Jaguar. Peugeot needs Jaguar, as it can’t sell a vehicle over £25k ($40k)

Can you blame them: their stock is on the rise. They don’t need a boat anchor like the Queen’s old hat collection.

j i m

Peugeot it a crap car company with ****ty cars and barely enough to keep themselves alive. I still believe Honda would be the best option.

Why would an up and coming company like Hyundai want to invest in the old stodgy image of poor quality and high prices of Jaguar, instead of eventually opening a luxury division on 5 years or so.