March 27, 2008 Ford sells Jaguar and Land Rover to TATA

12:44am by Cheechoo (Cars)

The big news in the Automotive industry today is that Ford Motor Co. has finally sold its marque UK brands Jaguar and Land Rover. It was sold to India’s up-and-comer Tata, who recently unveiled their $2500 Nano micro-passenger car.

In my opinion, this can only mean good things for all parties involved:

First, Ford gets rid of the financial leech of the two UK brands. They haven’t been selling cars recently, most notably because of cost-cutting techniques like turning the entry-level X-type “luxury sports sedan” into a glorified Ford Contour. I guess consumers didn’t want to pay top dollar for an expensive version of a run-of-the-mill sedan. Now that Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover are all gone, Ford can concentrate on its core competencies, and maybe actually start selling more cars. They should have brought the Focus RS to the states a lonnnnnng time ago. Just start importing more of Ford Europe’s designs and it’s a done deal. Plus with all that new money in the bank they can start some real-deal R&D to make some pretty cool stuff.

Second, the marque brands can finally have some breathing room for both their models and their image. With Ford not breathing down their necks to re-use their own platforms (see: Ford Contour = Jaguar X-Type), the brands can finally rebuild their empire their own way. And I’ve heard from a few people in the market for an upper-echelon flagship sports car not wanting an Aston because it’s just “an expensive Ford”. Now they can get rid of that stigma and rebuild their prestige. Jag and Aston have some of the most storied histories in all of the Automotive World, and they can finally start adding to it again.

Third, Tata’s new ownership of these brands adds another rung on the ladder to bring India into the First World in terms of industry and economy. They seem to be off on the right foot in letting the UK factories and management stay.

All in all, it’s a great plus for the Automotive Industry as a whole. Each brand involved gets something out of this little debacle, and we as consumers might see things like: way cooler UK luxury sports cars, better Fords, and maybe Tata will even try to import the Nano over here! (lol)

Full article here.