Jaguar: Laters Ford, bonjour Renault?

Newswheel staff :: 05 December 2005 :: Filed under Ford, Jaguar, Renault, Europe & UK, US

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Renault wants to buy Jag from Ford

Ford hasn’t a clue how to sort out its struggling British luxury brand Jaguar. Bill Ford himself recently conceded just that. So, could the suggestion by French mag L’Expansion that Ford is considering flogging Jaguar to Renault be true?

The deal could make a lot of sense. Renault’s Japanese partner Nissan has virtually no presence at the premium end of the European market. And as the mediocre performance of the Lexus brand in Europe demonstrates (compared to its all-round butt-kicking of the German brands in the US), Euro luxury car buyers are a tough nut to crack. Rather than attempting to build its existing Infinity luxury brand from scratch in the Olde Worlde, Nissan and Renault might prefer to acquire an established name. What’s more, it’s already been widely reported that Ford and Renault had a chinwag regarding Volvo, but that Ford decided to hold onto the successful Swedish car maker. Could talks have moved on to Jaguar?

Well, we’d forgive Ford for having lost patience with Jag. It’s buried billions into the company and has yet to see a single red cent in return. We don’t doubt Ford would be tempted by an offer of real cash by Renault. And we also suspect that Jaguar might fare better under the command of Renault/Nissan’s dynamic CEO Carlos Ghosn than it presently does as part of the crumbling Ford empire.

Linkage:
Leftlane News report