Jaguar World Magazine XF: First Road Test Feb 08 Back Issue

As I sit down to write this on Friday 21
December, the day that the issue you’re
now reading closes for press, there has
still been no further announcement
from Ford about the sale of Jaguar Land Rover
and that, quite frankly, is a shame. Uncertainty is
never a good thing.
At this point the indications are that an
announcement from Ford won’t come until the New
Year which means, of course, that by the time you
read these words the deal with a new owner for
Jaguar Land Rover may be one step further to being
concluded. Given that it was in the October 2006
issue of JWM that the ‘will Ford sell Jaguar Land
Rover or won’t it?’ story first appeared on our pages,
which then moved on to ‘Ford is going to sell Jaguar
Land Rover – but who to?’ in the September 2007
issue, I’ll be grateful when that announcement finally
comes. And so to, I’m sure, will the 16,000 or so
people jointly employed by the two manufacturers.
On this cold December day, however, there are
still three ‘preferred-bidder’ shaped presents under
the Jaguar Land Rover Christmas tree, but all
indications are that it’s the one bearing the tag ‘from
Tata’ that will be chosen in due course. Tata – a
company that we’ve written much about – is widely
reported to have submitted the largest bid for Jaguar
Land Rover, the figure estimated at $2.05bn. If Ford
does indeed confirm Tata as its preferred bidder in
January, then it is the company Ford will focus its
efforts on concluding the deal with, leaving
Mahindra & Mahindra and One Equity Partners
effectively out of the running.