urbansouljah
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Aston Martin team first on the grid for Jaguar and Land Rover
THE venture capital consortium that won the auction for Aston Martin this year
is to consider joining the race for Ford’s £3bn ($5.9bn, e4.5bn) Jaguar and Land
Rover marques.

David Richards, the motoring entrepreneur backed by Investment Dar, a Middle
East venture capital group, told The Business: “Because of my relationship with
Aston Martin and Ford Motor Company, it is obviously something we will consider
when something is formalised. But I don’t believe there is a formal process up
and running yet.”

Richards is the first carmaker to publicly express interest in the latest brands
Ford is considering selling. It is part of a drastic restructuring aimed at
refocusing the US car giant on its core business and improving profits.

While a sale has not been decided, Ford said on Tuesday it is working with
advisers to sort out the future of the two brands, which have been rumoured to
be up for sale for more than a year.

Richards said: “There are obvious synergies, carmaking synergies, [between the
brands] but there is a lot of discussion to be had before I would even get
involved with that.

“I have been concentrating on Aston Martin the past few months and it is only
recently that I have put that to bed.

“This [Jaguar] is a very complex business that requires significant
restructuring. It would need to be done with a fair amount of diplomacy to
manage all the stakeholders.

“It would be a fairly high-profile activity and we have seen one of those go
completely wrong in the form of Rover. Ford is responsible in this respect, and
if it does sell it would want to be sure it is going to sensible people.”

Other interested parties are expected to be private equity groups prepared to
pay a premium for the cachet attached to the loss-making brands.

Last month, Cerberus, an American private equity firm, bought an 80.1% stake in
Chrysler from German carmaker DaimlerChrysler. Read Article
Aston Martin team first on the grid for Jaguar and Land Rover



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cdokecdoke - 6/16/2007 12:49:01 PMView My AgentSpace
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Ah wonderful. As much as I do love Aston Martin, Jaguar's biggest problem under the auspices of Ford was Aston Martin.

They were prevented from a) effectively moving up market and b) building cars worthy of their name for fear of stepping on the toes of AM.

It it for this reason that I truly hope that they don't buy Jaguar and Land Rover. The situation strikes me as on for Jaguar where they go out of the pan and into the fire.

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truecarlovertruecarlover - 6/18/2007 11:25:41 AM
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I'll have to disagree with you. The people that bought Aston Martin have a different philosophy than Ford. They are car enthusiasts who if they buy will want to see that prestige of the brands restored - that's why they snatched Aston Martin so quickly. I think as three British brands together they will have a more coherent philosophy than being being part of the Ford conglomerate.


cdokecdoke - 6/18/2007 4:23:09 PMView My AgentSpace
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Tell me, though, what management behaviors have they exhibited that show they are truly interested in that?

It is generally acknowledged that having brands that have the possibility of cannibalizing on eachother is bad- plain and simple. Ford didn't run the risk- safe for Ford Bad for Jaguar.


urbansouljahurbansouljah - 6/16/2007 1:58:09 PM
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Aston buyers and Jaguars buyers are totally different. Aston buyers are far fewer and specifically want an Aston. The only thing that will come of this is better engine technology and that can't be a bad thing.

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cdokecdoke - 6/16/2007 2:44:54 PMView My AgentSpace
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Ford seemed to think quite differently with respect to Jaguar's sports cars. A shame really, given Jaguar's beautiful history as far as racing is concerned which has been effectively nullified since 1994. The XKR-R ["XK Double R"], which is now rumored to be production bound, was not allowed to be built.

Jaguar's foray into super-cars was completely and definitely put to rest with the acquisition of Aston Martin. Now, there are some circumstances with that, such as the disappointment with the fact that they put a V-8 in the XJ 220 as opposed to a V-12. Something which I, myself fund a bit odd for a car bordering on $650,000 at the time, but I do understand that there was some performance tradeoff issues with that. Disappointment isn't quite correct "pissed off" would be closer.

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cdokecdoke - 6/16/2007 3:40:33 PMView My AgentSpace
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Correction: The Jaguar XJ 220 had a twin turbocharged V-6 (3.5 L). A rather amazing thing given the car 0-60 is 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 217 mph.

The XJR-15 had a V12 though [0-60: 3.1 seconds, top speed 195 mph]


cdokecdoke - 6/16/2007 3:21:06 PMView My AgentSpace
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Will_Will_ - 6/17/2007 10:33:25 AM
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The XJ 220 was one of my ultimate fantasy cars at the time of its prime. I would love to see a new supercar project come from Jaguar.

If the choice for who Jag and Land Rover go to is between Aston Martin and Chrysler, I think we'd all choose Aston Martin.

I have a close friend of mine who is just as passionate about owning an Aston Martin as the next guy. About a year ago he seriously looked at acquiring a brand-new DB9. However, a few months into his search and a small financial situation struck him and his family pretty hard. Luckily he was able to bounce back... and to speed up this story, he recently picked up a Jaguar XK Coupe. Nearly every time I see him he goes on and on about how it looks just like a DB9 to him.



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