The chairman of the JCB construction machinery group, Sir Anthony Bamford, has told a financial newspaper he would be interested in buying Jaguar if Ford was prepared to split the troubled car maker from Land Rover.
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Such a “British” solution, with a respected UK engineering group linked to the heavily loss-making but iconic Jaguar, could attract the loss-making Ford, the Financial Times speculated.
A spokesman for the Premier Automotive Group – Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Volvo – would say only that Ford was continuing to “review its options”, the paper added.
Sir Anthony’s comments reportedly came on the Bonneville salt flats as a 30-strong JCB team yesterday celebrated the setting of a 350mph land speed record for diesel cars with the ‘JCB Dieselmax’, a nine-metre vehicle powered by highly developed twin versions of the JCB-designed and built diesels used in its diggers.
“If they (Ford) can separate Jaguar out (from Land Rover) then I’d like to buy it,” Sir Anthony told the FT. But Jaguar would need downsizing. “The little car (X-type) needs to go. The S-type is critical and the XJ is a very good car but it needs a re-skin.” He also reportedly criticised Ford’s cancellation of an F-type roadster.
The paper noted that analysts have speculated that newly appointed Ford adviser Kenneth Leet is likely to recommend a sale of some or all of the PAG brands, but that Jaguar and Land Rover are now sufficiently intertwined to merit any sale as a package.
The two brands share components, a manufacturing site at Halewood on Merseyside and extensive joint distribution, the FT added.
However, Jaguar is still accounting for much the largest share of PAG’s continuing losses – $US162m (GBP86m) in the second quarter – and Sir Anthony told the paper that if Ford sold the company to him “Ford could then make a lot of money by selling Land Rover. Selling them together won’t make much because Jaguar is regarded in the world as a dog.”
Despite his interest in securing “a British solution” Sir Anthony said he had not “approached anybody at Jaguar or Ford”, the FT added.
According to the paper, he contrasted JCB with private equity firms. “If private equity companies get involved they’ll borrow from all over the place and sell it in three years. That’s not us. We’ve been in business for 60 years and I can see a long-term future in Jaguar.”
A JCB spokeswoman later confirmed Sir Anthony’s comments to Reuters, which added that Premier Automotive Group (PAG) itself had declined comment.
The news agency noted that analysts and bankers have pointed to wealthy Russian businessman Nikolai Smolensky, who bought British sports car company TVR in 2004, as a possible buyer for Jaguar.
Private equity buyers and mass car makers eager to move upscale in search of higher margins could also emerge as buyers, they have said, according to Reuters.
