JCB shows interest in snatching Jaguar

Ford's financial troubles are no secret to anyone. The company's financial troubles have graced the headlines of many newspapers in recent years. Maybe it's time for them to part ways with what has likely been the largest financial drain, second only to the massive legacy costs.

And so British construction machinery group JCB has expressed interest in buying carmaker Jaguar from U.S. owner Ford Motor Co. A JCB spokeswoman confirmed a report in the Financial Times newspaper which said JCB Chairman Anthony Bamford would only want to buy Jaguar if Ford was prepared to split the loss-making carmaker from Land Rover.

Ford bought Jaguar in 1989 for 1.6 billion pounds ($3.03 billion) but has struggled to make money with the brand, part of PAG. PAG also includes Volvo, Land Rover and Aston Martin.

"If they [Ford] can separate Jaguar out [from Land Rover] then I'd like to buy it," Bamford was quoted by the newspaper as saying. The JCB spokeswoman confirmed the comments.

Based on recent sales trends, Ford said it expects PAG will be again be unprofitable in 2006. In December last year it had injected another 1.2 billion pounds into Jaguar to cover heavy losses and investment writedowns, the second recapitalization in two years. In 2004, Ford cut 1,150 Jaguar jobs in England, scaled back production at the Browns Lane plant in Coventry and shifted output to another factory near Birmingham.

So maybe it is time for JCB to inject the same amount of stamina into Jaguar as it has into its Dieselmax, which beat its own land speed record for diesel-powered cars, reaching 350.092 miles per hour a day after breaking a three-decade-old record.

And Britain will again have a luxury car it can call its own.