Saturday, 30 August 2008 |
20:42 UAE time
Jaguar and Land Rover. Two legendary marques, both as British as Winston Churchill and bulldogs, one a carriage of choice for Prime Ministers, London gangsters, and hip '60s swingers, and the other an unbeatable line of iconic mud-pluggers that have transported Army Commanders and intrepid true-grit explorers to the furthest reaches of the planet. And they're up for sale.
It's like the Queen of England taking the Crown Jewels to a car boot sale in the back of her own Daimler Limousine.
But while we may bemoan and decry the tragic and astonishingly rapid fall of Her Majesty's car industry, it's even more extraordinary to see the list of suitors lined up to take up the cause of saving the big cat from extinction and keeping the Land Rover roving - two of the three are Indian.
As Ford's imminent sale of the two brands nears, India's largest conglomerate, Tata, and its rival group Mahindra & Mahindra, have come to the table along with buy-out group One Equity Partners led by Jac Nasser, a former Ford chief exec.
Mahindra is the largest maker of SUVs in India and started out trading steel to England and progressed to assembling Jeeps in 1949 - definitely certain synergies with Land Rover there. British car workers union, Unite, however has already made public its favouring of the Tata bid. This is a company that already employs a quarter of a million people, earned $22 billion last year and has over 96 companies spread over 40 countries.
It's easy to see why Ford locked the British duo into a two-for-one style package deal. Land Rover is building better cars than ever, and its growing self-confidence is reflected in its revenues, meanwhile Jaguar is the brand that everyone wants to see do well. It could easily be the Maserati of Britain (India?), providing classy alternatives to the premium brands from Stuttgart, Munich and Ingolstadt.
It's struggling, but it's learnt from its mistakes, with a pledge to ditch the ill-conceived Mondeo-based X-Type and plough its investment into the upper executive sector XF - though having noticed its lack of visual presence at the Dubai show, the jury is still out on the impact this vital car will have, and I for one am waiting to see it out on the road.
Drawing upon my own Anglo-Indian heritage, frankly the whole thing leaves me perplexed. I don't know whether to rejoice, shed tears or be anxious for the car markers' future. But with the arrival next year of F1 Team Force India and Shah Rukh Khan having seen off Tom Cruise at the US box office, you've got to admit, India's on a roll.
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