Ford Won’t Sell Jaguar
“Jaguar is not for sale at this time,” said Ford’s Chief Executive Alan Mulally at the recently held North American International Auto Show in Detroit. “We really like the progress Jaguar is making both on the product side and on their quality and productivity. They are on a really good positive business improvement plan.”
Mulally, who replaced Bill Ford Jr. as the chief executive officer of Ford in September, has previously refused to rule out the sale of the automaker’s British luxury brand as well as other premium brands in its portfolio. Ford earlier confirmed the report that it is selling the aston martin, its British sports car unit. Moreover, analysts in the industry are eager to know if the automaker is also planning to sell the Jaguar brand.
According to Bibiana Boerio, Jaguar’s managing director, she is focused on resurrecting the vehicle line-up and does not worry about a possible sale of the brand. She added, “I don’t spend a minute a minute worrying about that,” she said. “I can’t control it. Ford will take the action it needs to take.”
It can be reckoned that Ford purchased Jaguar, an iconic British auto brand that is famed for its leaping cat ornament, $2.82 billion. The purchase took place in 1989 however, up to this present time Ford finds it hard to make money out of the luxury brand. Last year in the United States, Jaguar brand sales were down by about 32 percent; to think that the US is Ford’s largest market. So far, Jaguar is the biggest drag of Ford. In fact, Premier Automotive Group of the automaker is expected to post a significant loss for that matter.
In the first three quarters of 2006, Ford has reported about $7 billion overall loss. The last quarter of the year also gave Ford great losses. The decline in sales and the losses accumulated by the automaker are largely attributed to the vanishing US market share to Asian rivals with Toyota on the lead.
Bill Ford, chairman of the company, described 2006 as a “difficult year” and 2007 was a “pivotal year.” On the positive note, Mulally added that Ford’s U.S. vehicle line-up will include more crossover vehicles and small cars and the company will continue investing in its European luxury brands to cope with the demands and complexities of the industry.
Right now, Jaguar is busy promoting its new vehicles that include the XF, deemed to be the replacement of the S-Type. At the recent Detroit auto show, Jaguar also unveiled the C-XF concept sedan. Jaguar design director Ian Callum said the C-XF’s low roof and sporty stance is a styling cue that Jaguar sees lacking in the sedan class. “We put in a lot of effort to give the car a sense of speed and also to be easy on the eye,” Callum said. “We want to give the impression that Jaguar is about to build the most modern-looking sedan on the road.”
Auto Jaguar body parts used in the C-XF signals the future of the automaker. From the menacing cat-eye headlamps, silhouette features, muscular shoulders, sharply tapered rear deck, to the brushed aluminum interior; C-XF could not be confused with so-so cars.
Correy Putton
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