Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale?

Speculation about a proposed Volvo sell-off by Ford has barely died down, but there are already new rumours doing the rounds suggesting the blue oval is looking to dispose of its Jaguar and Land Rover subsidiaries.

Jag and Landy are part of Ford's elite Premier Automotive Group, which also includes Volvo. There was a fourth member of PAG -- namely Aston Martin -- but Ford opted to sell a majority stake in the sports car specialist earlier this year to a conglomerate comprising a pair of Kuwaiti investment houses and a UK consortium headed by Prodrive boss David Richards.

The latest bout of speculation comes as Ford attempts to stem the tide of red ink that saw it post a loss of $15.1 billion last year.

The recent Aston Martin sale (more here) provided a much-needed shot in the arm, raising $1.12 billion and enabling Ford to sharpen its focus on its core operations. Although Aston was recently restored to profitability after a lengthy losing streak, there was little commonality between its offerings and those wearing blue oval badges, which meant there were no real benefits in terms of economies of scale.

Disposing of Jaguar and Land Rover could add a further financial fillip, but Ford says
anyone who suggests that the sale is definite is "purely speculating"... but it adds "the Ford Motor Company is continuing to assess a number of strategic options for all of its operations."

The fortunes of PAG haven't been all that rosy of late, as it lost $389m last year, compared with $106m in 2005. Although Ford hasn't provided individual breakdowns for the PAG brands, Jaguar has undoubtedly been the biggest loser as it lumbers along with a dated line-up (barring the slinky, new-ish XK coupe/convertible).

UK's Autocar magazine reports that investment banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC have been appointed to administrate the sell-off, and neither Ford, nor any of the banks mentioned, have denied their involvement, according to the magazine.

It's possible Ford may offer Jaguar and Land Rover as a package deal, given that the two brands complement each other and share powertrains and various other components, not to mention back-office functions and engineering units. There's even a joint manufacturing plant at Halewood in Merseyside, UK.

Euro sources suggest Fiat was shaping as a serious bidder for Land Rover and Jaguar until concerns that a buy-in would damage the Italian carmaker's credit rating put an end to negotiations.

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