h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, it appears that Jaguar & Land Rover, after many years of such speculation, are actually up for sale .

It's been rumoured for *ages*, even before I left the place (and boy am I glad I got out when I did!), that sooner or later Jaguar or both them and Land Rover would be up for sale.

Actually, Land Rover are making a profit, it's just Jaguar that are bringing them down . I could post a lot more, but that's probably far more than I'm supposed to, and it would still count as a rant, anyway.

The annoying thing is that Ford is refusing to either confirm or deny the rumours - which, considering the last time such rumours came out it flatly denied them, is as good as standing on a rooftop and shouting, "Anybody wanna buy a couple of car companies?"

*sigh*

I'm just trying to work out who in their right mind would want to buy them. A gang of venture capitalists (such as those who bought Aston Martin) seems likely but would worry me on many, many levels. In order to run a mass-producing car company well, you need to understand the industry and its trends*, and venture capitalists aren't going to have that . For Aston, the situation was slightly different; they're already low-volume, high-margin niche products, an approach which won't work with Land Rover, though it might with Jaguar.

*though it could be said, Ford haven't really excelled themselves with this bit, either, particularly as the US market has changed from SUVs and pick-ups to smaller, European-style cars.

BMW have apparently stated an interest in Volvo (who, as yet, aren't up for sale, AFAIK), but after the mess last time I can't see BMW jumping in and saying "Two British brands, one in a reasonably good shape and the other struggling a bit? It's similar to when we had Rover. Oh, go on then, we'll take them."

VAG have enough brands of their own at the moment (VW/Audi/Seat/Skoda). GM have enough problems of their own - their odds on bankruptcy are worse than Ford's, or at least they were. Fiat would be a nightmare and they've only just recovered from trouble themselves. PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) I can't see being interested, and Renault & Nissan are rumoured to have made an approach for Jaguar a few years ago - I can't see them wanting both. Honda has been mooted, but I can't see it - and Toyota are hardly likely to jump in (apart from to laugh, probably).

In that case, I wonder if it's worth brushing up on Chinese?

Being from Solihull, this news is a bit of a bummer. Are job losses likely?

At the moment, no-one seems to know .

The thing is, Land Rover's sales, even in the US, are doing really well. It's long been muttered about Ford moving either part or all production overseas to somewhere cheaper, but if someone else comes in, who knows? Venture capitalists are as liable to asset strip and ship production elsewhere as those who picked over the bones of MG Rover.

Ford are struggling, and I think if they weren't to sell, there would be some serious restructuring going on - my head says they should focus on Jaguar as that's struggling far more than LR is, but realistically, both companies would be in the firing line .