JCB jostles for Jaguar?
Newswheel staff :: 24 August 2006 :: Filed under Jaguar, JCB, Europe & UK, US
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Jag jamboree rolls on
Well, we certainly wouldn’t have picked this one. But British construction machinery manufacturer JCB has announced an interest in acquiring Jaguar from FoMoCo. A spokesman has today confirmed a report in the FT that JCB would be happy to relieve Ford of Jaguar on one condition: it must be split and sold separately from Land Rover…
JCB head honcho Anthony Bamford told the FT, “if they [Ford] can separate Jaguar out [from Land Rover] then I’d like to buy it.” Add in JCB’s recent diesel land speed record busting escapades and you could be forgiven for thinking dowdy JCB is going through something of a mid-life crisis. What next, Bamford in his own music video?
Whatever, the question of whether JCB stewardship is a good idea for Jaguar is a matter for greater minds than those at Newswheel. However, we’re sure of two things. Ford is in a desperate fix and will take any serious offer for Jaguar into consideration. And the UK press will no doubt be mad for the idea of Jaguar returning to British ownership. If the deal were to go through, brace yourselves for an endless litany of Union Jack infested car magazine covers and reams of jingoist rhetoric. All together now, Rule Britannia…
Posted 25 August 2006, by James
Who better to dig Jaguar out of a hole!?