Bodacious!
Posted on 03/25/2008 12:42:59 PM PDT by Red Badger
LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. automaker Ford (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has agreed to sell its luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) for more than $2 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Ford, which signed the deal on Tuesday, plans to publicly announce the transaction in New York at 0800 EST on Wednesday, said another source.
The deal will also see Ford pay about 300 million pounds ($598 million) into Jaguar and Land Rovers' pension funds, according to unions.
Ford declined to comment, adding "our first responsibility is to communicate with our employees."
The sale had been expected at the start of this month, but it was delayed as the two firms discussed their future relationship, including technology sharing and Ford's provision of engines and body parts for the two brands.
Tata, India's top vehicle maker, has been in talks with Ford since it was chosen as the frontrunner to buy Jaguar and Land Rover a few days into 2008.
Tata is pursuing the deal to gain a substantial foothold outside India.
But analysts have questioned how Tata will incorporate the luxury brands into its stable of sturdy trucks and functional passenger cars, including the Nano, the world's cheapest car which it unveiled in January.
While Land Rover has generated three years of record sales with its iconic SUVs, the fit of Jaguar is far less clear. Ford, which lost $2.7 billion in 2007 and $12.6 billion in 2006, is spinning off Jaguar and Land Rover to focus on turning around its loss-making operations in North America.
The sale will include a commitment by Tata to continue buying engines from Ford, according to unions.
All Jaguar and Land Rover's petrol engines are built in a Ford plant in South Wales, supporting hundreds of jobs there. Diesel engines come from Ford's factory in Dagenham, east London.
One of the sources knocked down reports on Indian television earlier on Tuesday that the deal had been closed for $2.65 billion.
"That figure of $2.65 billion is highly unlikely," one source close to the deal said of the report on news channel NDTV Profit. "You have to come south from that by quite a bit."
Ahead of the TV report, shares in Tata Motors rose 2.7 percent to a three-week closing high of 679.95 rupees, in a Mumbai market that surged 6.1 percent.
Ford shares were down 0.2 percent at around $5.95 at 1813 GMT. (Additional reporting by Hiral Vora and Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by John Mair/Rory Channing/David Cowell)
LOOKS LIKE A TAURUS-LOOKS LIKE A TAURUS-LOOKS LIKE A TAURUS!!!
Sorry.
...something overcame me. :o)
Aren't cows sacred in India?
Will luxury car buyers do without leather interiors?
Make it black with all tinted windows and chrome wheels and that is it.
hahaha
Hey! Get a look at those bodacious Tatas!!!
S-Type and X-type were discontinued; replaced with the XF Sedan, which hit the showrooms this month. Great looking, powerful upgrade. It could seriously turn around the company’s sales in a hurry.
Anybody seen an analysis of how much ford Lost since the acquisition of Jaguar? It’s been a continuous money pit as far as I can tell.
Yeah I bought my S too soon. I love the new XF. sigh
Can we think nasty Jac Nasser for this or just the fact that Ford ventured into market territory they had no business in? It was bad enough for the Yanks to own the venerable British Jaguar name but to be sold to an Indian company!!!
Well TaTa for now.
Bodacious!
But we cannot knock Ford's parenthood, as they improved on the troublesome BMW engine in the LR Discovery. The Jag moved to the top of this list in dependability and performance. Remember the when the old joke was you needed two Jags-one available to drive while the other was in the shop.
I can almost see the chandelier light swinging in the cab.
Actually the Jag moved to the top of the list dependability, performance, at least their top of the line did. Keeping a Jag touch to their "lower cost" models. However, I am told the demand for the Jag in my part of the country was not there.
Where I live, luxury sports model autos like the Jag can be used only a few months out of the year, and keeping up with the Jones Family is not on the high list of priorities; like say if you lived on Long Island or California etc. LR, on the other hand is doing a good business here and not built to be a disposable vehicle. I have over 100,000 and paint is like new, dependable, just she needs a swig of oil in between changes for under $2..which costs less than my drive up to get a Coke more frequent.
Would I like better mileage, sure but cannot even use clean diesel (which can take biofuel as well) in my (green image) state. Diesel (our nations truckers) suffers at the pumps, so that Americans pay less; but still keep old habits. We are behind Europe in many respects on what we are able to drive.
It’s a smart way to break into the U.S. market. Americans don’t want to buy an Indian Tata, but they’ll surely snap up Indian-made Jags and Land Rovers.
Ah, the difference a “brand” makes.
Ditto for China’s Chery and Cerebus’s Chrysler.
Land Rover is a grown up tractor that lost it’s way.
Jaguar...... on another thread today we learned that the border fence was problematic for the jaguar because it would not be able to go back and forth across the border.
It depends on where they are made. If these things are made in India, even in part, oh man.
Indian incompetence can’t be overstated. They’re getting a lot of cash now cause they are cheap, speak english, and aren’t africa. They got far with that, but it’s about run its course unless some massive changes are underway.
Ford bought Jag for $3 billion in 1990 dollars, and it has lost money every year since. Love the cars, but talk about a boat anchor on the bottom line!
Great! Now we own two Indian rigs! :)
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