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Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ford's proposed sale of Volvo marks full circle for the car industry.
1989 FORD BUYS JAGUAR
Jaguar was widely regarded as one of the two parts of BL that could stand alone, so it was floated off as a separate company in 1984. Under John Egan big strides were made in improving Jaguar's reputation, and in September 1989, Ford bought the company.
1990 GM BUYS 50% OF SAAB
The sale of Saab to Fiat Group was virtually a done deal when GM swept in and bought 50%. Swedish group investor had the other half and was reluctant to give it up. Saab immediately started a program to replace the old 900.1991 FORD BUYS ASTON MARTIN
Tiny, alilling bespoke car maker was taken over; plans were laid for DB7, soun off an ex-Jaguar
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Shortly after taking over as BMW boss, Bernard Pischetsrieder approach British Aerospace to buy Land Rover. BAE wanted to offload the whole Rover Group instead. But existing partner Honda refused to take a majority, so BMW took the whole group, much to Honda's displeasure.1998 DAIMLER BUYS CHRYSLER
In what become a much-derided term, Daimler described the takeover of Chrysler as a "merger of equals" and renamed the company DaimlerChrysler. ALmost immediately Chrysler's fortune slumped, forcing Daimler to move in and attempt tp radically restructure the US brand.
1999 FORD BUYS VOLVO
After the failed merger of Volvo and Renault in the mid-1990s, Volvo was struggling to survive on ots own. Its need for a medium car even led to a project with Mitsubishi in Holland. Ford, on a buying spree under boss Jac Nasser, bought Volvo in 1999.2000 GM TAKES 20% SHARE OF FIAT
Co-operation began on a new supermini (Corsa/Punto), with an opton to force GM to buy Fiat Auto after 2004.
2000 GM TAKES OVER SAAB
GM bought the remaining 50% of Saab because of a new product investment stand-off between it and co-owner investor.
2000 BMW BREAKS UP AND SELLS OFF ROVER GROUP
After massive losses in 1999, and the sacking of boss Pishetsrieder, BMW's board sold off the troubled Rover Group. It kept the near-complete Mini project and was persuaded, by a huge dowry from the UK government, to let Rover cars go to a local buyout team.
2000 FORD BUYS LAND ROVER
When BMW broke up the Rover Group, Ford swept in and bought Land Rover, it paid nearly �2bn, but got the no-expense-spared Mk3 Range Rover. L-R was joined up with Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Matin to create Ford's Premier Auto Group.
2000 DAIMLER BUYS CONTROLLING MITSUBISHI STAKE
Daimler's 34% stake in Mitsubishi was part of chairman Jurgen Schrempp's desire to build a global car corporation. Stake was upped to 37% in 2001.
2004 DAIMLER SELLS MITSUBISHI STAKE
Despite massive restunturing as Mitsubishi suffered huge debts, massive recalls, poor sales and spiralling losses. Daimler's shareholders pressed for the company's complete withdrawal.
2005 GM BUYS OUT FIAT AUTO
Fiat's joint venture allowed it to force GM to buy Fiat Auto at a market price. Fiat Auto had come close to collapseso GM spent �1.2bn buying itself out of the deal.
2007 FORD SELLS JAGUAR AND LAND ROVER
Ford called timeon the huge investment demanded by Land Rover and failure of Jaguar to build serious sales valumes, despite a four-model line-up and expensive aluminium chassis technology. Purchased by Indian conglomerate Tata.
2007 FORD SELLS ASTON MARTIN
After huge investment in the Vanquish and a new aluminium VH platformfor future models, the company was sold to an Anglo-Kuwaiti consortium led by David Richards.
2008 FORD PUTS VOLVO UP FOR SALE
In the wake of global credit crunch, Ford was forced, as part of an appeal to the US government for huge loans, to out struggling Swedish brand Volvo up for sale.
2008 GM PUTS SAAB UP FOR SALE
Just like Ford, General Motors was forced to put its Swedish subsidiary up for saleaftergoing cap in hand to the US government for a bailout. Saab's sale volumes had never broken above 150,000 per year.
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