Off The Block? Ford Says Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo Not For Sale
Aston still up for sale
September 27, 2006
Motor Trend
Ford, battered by a seemingly never-ending string of bad financial news, the announcement of its drastic Way Forward reorganization and its recent re-reorganization plan, dubbed Fast Forward, has been fending off rumors for months that it has decided to or is considering selling one or more of the European brands it owns.
The automaker has confirmed recently that the high end niche brand Aston Martin is up for sale, but announced today that the rest of its premium brands, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo, are not on the block – at least for now, that is.
Jaguar's recently released XK coupe and convertible hold some promise for a turnaround for the struggling automaker.
The announcement came during a presentation to financial analysts by Lewis Booth, head of Ford of Europe and the Premier Automotive Group, or PAG, the organization under which all of Ford’s European brands are grouped.
In a bit of exec doublespeak, Booth went on to say that he could not rule out that the situation would change in the future. By all accounts, Jaguar has been the biggest drag on the PAG brand portfolio, and analysts have been urging Ford to put the money-losing operation up for sale as well. PAG is expected to post a loss in 2006 but Ford has said the division has shown some signs of improvement heading into 2007.
Ford's recently announced accelerated cost-cutting plan calls for drastic cuts of more than 40,000 jobs and the shuttering of as many as 16 plants in North America in an effort to return to profitability by 2009.
-Reuters contributed
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