Why did Ford sell Jaguar, Aston Martin, Land Rover?

Question

Why couldn't Ford have sold Mazda, or Mercury? Why'd they have to sell all their good companies? What next, are they going to discontinue the Ford GT?

I have lost faith in this company, hopefully with the new Lincoln line they will redeem themselves, but until than I am no longer a Ford man...

What do you think of this?

Answer 1

Jag and Land Rover were bleeding money from Ford.  They aren't big sellers to start with, and Ford is hurting cause of the economy.  So, when Tata Motors came along wanting to buy up Jag and LR, Ford took them up on it.  Tata is looking to expand in the world marketplace, and Ford needs to cut its losses right now to keep afloat in this economy.  

By the way, Mercury is on the chopping block next since their sales aren't keeping them afloat.  And with $5 gas on the horizon, i wouldn't expect the Ford GT to hang around for more than 2 or 3 more production years.

Answer 2

Ford has never turned a profit with Jaguar or Aston martin.  The company was bleeding red ink and it needed to unload non-performing, non-core brands.  Selling Jaguar and Aston is a good move actually...  Ford should have done it a lot sooner when they could have commanded a higher premium for those marques.

Land Rover had started turning a profit for Ford in the last couple years, but I think selling the brand is a good move too--  Look at what happened to SUV sales in the U.S. in the past several months.  If Ford had kept Land Rover (which is an SUV-only brand), right now they would be in a REALLY bad place.

Getting rid of those brands were definitely something Ford needed to do.

Answer 3

hey the focus (but that's not a brand, unfortunately) still rocks!! but yeah, those are the good brands. they should have sold Lincoln, because all of those cars have like 10 mpg. switch over to Toyota/Honda :). they could have gone far with Jaguar; big business.

Answer 4

Ford is hemorrhaging bad. They have all their properties up as collateral trying to save themselves.

Jaguar, even though it is a good car, depreciates quickly. Why spend 90k on a new car when its worth 50k a year later. Autin Martins are great cars but they have limited clientel. Land Rover has a really bad reputation for mechanical issues.

Mazda is doing exceptionally well, especially in todays economy.