Jaguar World Magazine XJ40 Owners Guide May 08 Back Issue

Finally, Jaguar Land Rover has a new
owner. Well, nearly. Following a long and
drawn out process that started with the
‘Will Ford sell Jaguar or won’t it?’ rumours
back in August 2006, progressing through the
‘Ford is selling, but who to?’ stage, to the more
recent ‘Tata is the preferred buyer, but the deal’s
not quite done yet…’, on 26 March offi cial
Ford/Tata statements lifted some of the mist
that surrounded Jaguar Land Rover’s future.
Though the statement by Ford is of a ‘defi nitive
agreement to sell its Jaguar Land Rover operations
to Tata Motors,’ the deal is yet to be concluded.
That should happen by the end of the next fi nancial
quarter, ‘subject to customary closing conditions,
including receipt of applicable regulatory approvals.’
Tata’s statement is, of course, much the same.
In other words, there should be no reason at
all for either side to pull out now, and nor do we
expect them to. So, to all intents and purposes,
Jaguar Land Rover has a new owner and I, for one,
am both pleased and optimistic for Jaguar’s future
under Tata stewardship.
There are several reasons why I think Tata
should do a good job – its proven record in the
takeovers of other British companies and its own
successful history being amongst them – but
the main reason I am optimistic is rather more
anecdotal. Of all the Jaguar employees that I’ve
spoken to about the takeover process – and
remember that for them, their future employment
has potentially been on the line so they will have
had more reason to take an interest in the saga
than most – not one has had anything other than
a confi dent, positive outlook. And they must have
taken some convincing…