On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 00:29:55 +0100, "Larry" <
[email protected]>
wrote:
>Ford one of the arch villains of the motor industry wants to turn Land
>Rovers into fords wants to turn Aston Martins into fords and Jaguars into
>fords.
Arch villain? I think Ford's treatment of Jaguar, Volvo, AML and Land
Rover is rather good. Lots of investment and an absolute revolution
in the quality of product leaving the first three companies. I have a
Ford V70 (sorry, Volvo) which is built on their P2 platform - so good
that Ford are going to use it themselves. Apart from a nagging doubt
about the transmission and a sticky cupholder it is absolutlely
faultless.
The current Jaguars are a world ahead of the BL crap that they used to
churn out. And Ford are the first owners to make a profit at Aston
Martin in the companies entire history and producing one of the most
pant-wetting cars in recent years.
Compared with GM (aren't they about to force Saab to sell a rebadged
Subaru?) I think Ford are doing rather well with the PAG. Outside fo
PAG, Mazda are turning out a class-leading car under their ownership.
>
>Well last time Jaguar and Land Rover were together in a company it was
>called British Leyland, .... oh dear ...... mine dates from that era 
>
>
>Ford reliability might be one thing, but how long to they keep spares in
>there back catalogue, I started having problems with Mk II granada spares
>back in the 90's, ford do not expect there vehicles to last and are seriosly
>peeved if they do.
You have to look at the design requirement of that car. It was
marketing as a company exec, so expected to be run for 3 years then
punted to an auction and be beyond keeping at about 6 years old.
Companies keep spares based on market forces - how many old Ford
trucks are still running in the States? I bet you can get spares for
them very easily - just because their is a market for them. The same
argument applies to bits for a 1990 Land Rover against a 1990 Shogun.
There are so many of the former in UK that it is commercially viable
to run a spares operation.
--
Tim Hobbs
'58 Series 2 88" aka "Stig"
'77 101FC Ambulance aka "Burrt"
'95 Discovery V8i aka "The Disco" (FOR SALE)
'03 Volvo V70
My Landies?
http://www.seriesii.co.uk
Barcoding?
http://www.bartec-systems.com
Tony Luckwill web archive at
http://www.luckwill.com