If you are one of the accountants who read this newsletter brace yourself, you are about to get criticised. Still, we know you can take it, and, in any case, it had nothing to do with you.
You see, Ford had this clever idea. Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover were all run separately, using different manufacturing plants. That just did not make sense, so, after crunching some numbers, the accountants persuaded the company to throw it all together. As Alexandre Dumas might have put it, “three for one, and one for all.” Well actually, there was a fourth company in the mix too; the D’Artagnan of the quartet was Volvo.
You see, it’s all very well uniting the production process and saving lots of money, but supposing you then decide to sell off the asset? That’s fine if someone comes out of the woodwork who is prepared to buy the lot, but that’s not really very likely.
So, maybe the accountants got it wrong.
But, at least two of the musketeers might be finding a home together.
Tata Motors Ltd seems to have found itself in poll position for the battle to win ownership of the two car brands.
If Tata wins the prize, then it will be the second time in recent years the Indian corporate giant has ended up with a once-proud British asset. Tata steel bought Corus at the beginning of this year – it also owns Tetley Tea by the way.
It seems that China and the Middle East are not alone in buying-up western assets; there is no reason why they shouldn’t, it’s just a sign of the times.
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