that kind of blows big time. lucky for tata.

Ford is selling a company that makes 1.6 billion a year for 2.05 billion? Are they out of their minds? I hope they stop the bidding process and keep the companies.

lol its a smart move but i just hate to see these amazing companies going to Tata.

So what does a $2,500 Jaguar, and Land Rover look like?

Stop the sale!

TOZO, I second that motion!

Those fools. they sold the companies too soon.

Then again, FORD might end up wrecking those companies over again. Better to let someone else deal with it. The one thing I lament is that both JAGUAR and LAND ROVER did not return to British hands.

TATA actually makes more than just teeny little cars like the Nano. I think it would be like Hyundai buying JAGUAR or LAND ROVER, except we didn’t know TATA existed until a year or so ago.

Take heart people. Jaguar and Land Rover customers are for the most part well heeled and therefore likely very aware of this impending sale. This may sound borderline racist, but how many current owners do you think are likely to re-up given this potential new ownership?

I eagerly await the sales figures for both brands a year after Tata’s reign begins. This may be the best move Ford has made in a long time.

Soooo….why are you selling them Ford? This is the kind of quick, no-second-thought, thinking that has got them where they are. They are selling a PROFITABLE company just so they can make a quick buck. Yes, they will make nearly 1/2 billion more in the short term, but in the long term, they COULD very well make more money than that. And why sell it after Ford just poured in a bunch of resources into the two brands? The LR3, LR2, XK, and XF are all rather new products. You spend R&D dollars on those cars, yet you won’t even seen any return on that investment. I fail to see the logic here. Ford is not in THAT bad of a situation to be dependent on 1/2 billion dollars in quick cash. If anything Jag and LR might help them stay afloat. And besides, who really wants to see these brands go to India? Whatever, I guess Indian companies love buying British assets. They have picked up as many as they could afford in recent years

Lets not rush to judgment, like LLN rushes articles and denies them day or twolater. It is difficult to know if Rover/Jaguar made/lost money. The cost of business is not only sales, but also maintenance of sold/leased fleet. Majority of sales at Rover are leases. And probably this year is better then last since they tooled for Volvo engines and new V8 diesel appeared in Europe. But for number of years Rover was money loosing proposition and not only for Ford but for BMW as well. Ford sold the group out of business necessity and need for hard cash. Ford could not obtain line of credit for day to day operation, because their credit is atrocious, therefore they mortgaged ALL corporate assets and got hold of 23 billions. It is not a lot of money to survive on if you are Ford. They need cash today more then profit (or loss) tomorrow.

Good for Ford! Sell off those brands that don’t help out the Ford brand. Ford needs to concentrate on Ford. You don’t see Toyota or Honda buying these or other brands to stay afloat do you? So why should they keep companies that help them stay confused and diverted from the real task? Jack Nasser and his clan bought them, and Mulally wants them gone…good!

sell em’. Ford needs to step back from the buying and screwing up part of business…

RESTART THE SALE PROCESS FROM SCRATCH

I surely won’t give a **** who owns Jag and will still buy the XF. That’s just one sweet ride that’s brave enough to break the taboo like using blue interior lights.

India was once a colony of Briton… It’s a natural.

Sell them, concentrate on Ford, Lincoln and Volvo, keep Mercury to allow for global and domestic rebadge and test mules. Increase your stake in Mazda if possible.

This is still a good move. Like LLN said, Ford needs liquidity right now, and selling off assets, ESPECIALLY ones that have been unprofitable in the past is a good move. I also totally agree with you Gizmo2 (except for the rebadge comment). Move Mercury up a notch like they used to be. Give them separate products on the same platforms. That’s what is turning GM around.

Ford should sell FORD itself and stick with Land Rover and Jag. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me at this point

Profitabiliy numbers sre relaint on so many other facors like one time costs and legacy costs that dont always reflect btm line. Whenever a company is for sale they make it look as profitable as possible. With acct tricks like moving certain costs back a year or delaying them for a year.

Good move by Ford letting go of Aston Martin, and now Jaguar and Land Rover. No sense in letting profitable divisions get in the way of the parent company’s task at hand of bleeding billions of dollars..

^ LMFAO rsg, good post

Yeah, now India owns things like Tetley; a decidely British company

I pity you racist britons..You guys can’t even appreciate the fact that even though Tata has bought a loss making company and has pledged saving 40000 jobs. We in India do not think in the way the developed West thinks, i.e., All comments before mine. If thousands British jobs have come to India despite controversy, thats because we provide the same services for cheap. Why then didn’t you Patriotic and High Headed Britishers save those jobs?…Now an Indian Company helps lives of thousands of people by protecting their jobs and the British cant even say a yes of appreciation. Now thats Racism and its begun at the focal point that is Britain…Kudos to you Narrow minded thinkers…

QUOTE
India was once a colony of Briton… It’s a natural.
Comment by Culley, posted on January15 at 8:09 am
UNQUOTE

Mr. Culley, India was a colony of the british for only a mere 200 years in its 10000 year old recorded History. If you do not know about things please don’t comment…Thanks

Regards

Its absolutely no wonder that the buyout of Ford’s JLR range by TATA has angered the Brits… how else would anyone react? It was also interesting to read the racism mixed comments by several readers above.
The once great British empire is steadily on the decline without doubt … the pet prestiges Jaguar & Land Rover are just the latest to fall. Actually it had already fallen when Ford bought them in the first place. Yes Tata is known for its economy range vehicles, which control more than 50% share of the mega Indian trucking/bus market & almost 20-25% of the car market. But Brand Tata is older than the JLR brands. Yes India was a colony of the brits for 200 yrs. Yes what about the 10K years of recorded history? The West calls India and other poor countries as third world, but aptly, it is the west that is third world in civilization. All the oldest & greatest civilizations of the world has been destroyed by the west, from Central & South America to the Middle East… the only living old civilization is India now. I believe it wont be long before several of the great coglomerates of the Western world falls to these so called ‘Third World Countries’.
Maybe they’ll convert the JLR brand to another ‘Nano’, like the Maharajah who converted a brand new RollsRoyce to a garbage truck because RollsRoyce refused to sell him one (later Rolls Royce went on to make a whole Assembly line for Maharajahs called the ‘Maharajah line’!)

In a country which passed a law where you’ve to pay tax to take out extra household trash on a weekly basis, in a country whose largest megastore is owned by an Egyptian, in a country where the Crown Jewels where stolen from other countries, in a country where $4.5bn brand new Heathrow terminal had a faulty baggage conveyor & only one operational lift in the first days of operation which led to cancellation of over 150 British Airways flights, in a country where people think they are the great modern civilization but they are not… how can you keep your assets together?
Its the dawn of the new era… the old Indian Empire strikes back at the hands that tried to wrangle them. Beware they’re on the prawl! Kudos to the largest Democracy, with a billion people, countless religions, numerous races, a thousand languages and million culture! Kudos to Indians! Any other country would’ve already disintegrated in this diversity!