Cerberus joins group of financial investors to bid for Jaguar and Land Rover
Autoblog.com
Posted Jun 14th 2007 3:35PM by John Neff
Filed under: Chrysler, Dodge, Jaguar, Jeep, Land Rover, Earnings/Financials


While poring over the RSS feeds today, we noticed a tiny article in Automotive News about Ford's desire to sell off both Jaguar and Land Rover. The potential sale has been in the news as of late, but this article caught our eye because it reveals a potential bidder with which we're all familiar. According to Automotive News, three private equity groups including Blackston, Cinven and... Cerberus (!) have shown interest in joining the auction for two of Ford's Premiere Auto Group brands. Cerberus, of course, is the same private equity group involved in the purchase of Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler.

While the news that Cerberus has thrown its hat in the ring for the purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover is not necessarily surprising (this is what private equity firms do, they buy stuff), the thought of a new American automaker housing the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands along with both Jaguar and Land Rover certainly changes the landscape of the domestic auto industry in the near future. While Land Rover isn't in near as dire a straits as Jaguar, neither brand are performing at their peak potential. Unfortunately, neither is any Chrysler Group brand. Cerberus must really believe it has the magic touch to be getting involved with so many down but not out automakers.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd][/align]

 

Land Rover maybe but I think Jaguar would be a mistake...

 

It's not a bad move, to incorporate both Land Rover and Jaguar into the Chrysler/Jeep lineups. You could still kill off a lot of those car lines, and utilize the best of that equipment into a Chrysler or Jeep vehicle.

 

Agree. A Jeep/Land Rover clone would be an interesting concept...

Dusty

 

I think they will have their hands full with fixing chryslers debacle. Lets get chrysler rolling before we buy any other car companies.

 

I agree, Joe.

 

I cant see killing Jag or Rover. Those are valuable nameplates. But I agree, any Jeep/Rover collaborations would get my attention. Can you say "return of the Defender"?

 

An upscale Durango or Cherokee with some of the Land Rover's elegancy would be a good idea since DC doesn't really offer any refined vehicles. It could be a whole new market for them to tap into. Jaguar would be a misake, they can't even compete with BMW, Mercedes, Lexusetc... So there would be no gain from a company that can't survive amongst it's competition. DC is just not known as a luxory car company and to change that would be a potential disaster.

 

There are some interesting possibilities here, but it would have to be managed properly. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to blend DCX with other brand names to make better use of mass produced parts to lower the production expense, and we already know how the last one turned out.

As long as they trim the fat and retain the history of the market name, it can work; but it hasn't proven very successful so far. Bottom line, develop what the name stands for now and capitalize on the history!

 

People are still saying "DCX". It's about to be just Chrysler.

https://dodgeforum.com/m_809004/tm.htm