Hyundai dispels Jaguar acquisition rumours
Rumours through the grapevines indicated that Hyundai’s Kia unit might be the new owner of Ford’s struggling Jaguar brand, and perhaps even Land Rover. This might be bad news for Jaguar fans, you might see new Jaguar sedans based on the Kia Amanti or something. The Kia Amanti already looks very suspiciously like a Jaguar S-Type. And most of you know the Jaguar butt of the previous generation Hyundai Sonata.
Anyway, there were talks of this, but Hyundai has come out and informed media that yes there was an internal study done on the feasibility of acquiring a luxury marque like Jaguar from Ford Motor Co but it was ruled out because Hyundai decided it needed to focus on expanding production instead.
Unlike Jaguar, Ford’s other two luxury brands – Land Rover which makes luxury SUVs and Aston Martin which makes luxury sports cars – were profitable in 2005.
August 20, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
for the good of Jaguar’s heritage, lets hope that the rumour is false but if it’s true, then lets hope that the Koreans leave the Brits alone in designing and engineering their cars. pretty much like Proton owning Lotus.
August 20, 2006 @ 2:43 pm
Hyundai seems in big dilemma over it’s luxury car future.
Hyundai gaves up to launching a new luxury brand & also put on hold the luxury car “Hyundai BH” (similar segment to a BMW 5-series priced like a BMW 3-series)
There will not be enough time to create a new luxury brand at this point, and establishing the exclusive dealer network will take time. Eventually, the luxury brand will be estabished, I feel, similar to Lexus, Infiniti, Acura, and we should see at least three cars, initially moved over to the new brand.
seriously Hyundai BH not suitable to own Jaguar unless they just want to make money out of it and i don’t think Hyundai philosophy will be the same as Jag even though Jag seems more stylish with it’s British-curve.
but if Hyundai BH would be in Hyundai line-up, pretty hard for them to sell it. Hyundai needs 4-5 more years of improving quality perception and building more near luxury. their money is better spent on R&D, improving performance, and changing consumer perception (via marketing/PR). would you spend US$35,000 for a Hyundai?
So, better just create a new luxury brand and sell their new and improved stuffs there.
August 20, 2006 @ 2:43 pm
Have you ever seen an interesting Hyundai? Yup, thought so.
Hate to say it but it’s different with Proton and Lotus. At least Proton cars have shown (at least where design and chassis engineering are concerned) that they can gel with a small company like Lotus.
True, the Brits are bad business people, unlike us Asians, who are always good at making a company profitable. But all these buying of European marques is leaving a bad taste in the mouth.
I guess if the Koreans put money into Jaguar, Land Rover or any British brands, I hope they keep it quiet coz its going to be painful to accept
August 20, 2006 @ 2:45 pm
DtG,
Hyundai announces no interest in buying Jaguar.
Jag cars more stogey & really not suit with Hyundai.
August 20, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
“unlike us Asians, who are always good at making a company profitable”
but Asians are pure-profit maker without ethics except Japs & Korean
August 20, 2006 @ 2:50 pm
KingKong: Asians have no ethics except Japs & Koreans!? I totally do not agree with that statement. Have you ever worked in a Japanese company?
August 20, 2006 @ 2:55 pm
not yet but you should that they care about the quality & the customer satisfaction than profit. i’m talking about cars.
August 20, 2006 @ 4:04 pm
kingkong, its seriously hard to understand your english. pls don’t try to be bombastic and make so many errors whle typing. anyway you contradict yourself by saying this : “but Asians are pure-profit maker without ethics except Japs & Korean”
i think the japs and koreans account for at least 90% of total asian market share. So who else are you referring to ? china/india?
August 20, 2006 @ 5:50 pm
WHAT??????? Hyundai’s engineering in a Jaguar? HOLY CRAP!!!! It will be like putting a Kancil’s engine and accesories in a Mercedes Benz, pathetic……
August 20, 2006 @ 8:29 pm
you know what, Jeremy Clarkson did comment on Proton and Hyundai claiming that these Asian companies only care about making money and not what they put into a car. how ironic… heck, without rich automotive companies the Brits won’t be selling a single car…
August 20, 2006 @ 11:47 pm
imagin the usual aweful hyundai design in a jaguar! if thy buy it,..its purely for image purposes…jus like wen Audi build the buggati..thy know its not gona be profitable..bt the image it created was priceless…
August 21, 2006 @ 3:05 pm
SatriaGuy said – the Brits are bad business people.
Eeer, excuse me. Have you gone through the list of Fortune 500 companies and saw how many Brits and Asian companies there? Allow me to name just a few successful ones – British Airways, Tesco, Sainsbury (we don’t have it here), ING, AXA, Barclay Bank, HSBC, Shell, Dunlop and many others. As a matter of fact, many local industries are modelled against these Brit companies.
It all about not taking over but more as merging these two. Jaguar’s terms with Hyundai is simply cost reduction of the future production of Jaguar cars, which the Koreans and Japanese excel in. The Koreans and Japanese are great in mass production and keeping the cost and evantually the price low. Jaguar has been losing out on their market share due to it high cost of production. Whereas, Proton’s merger with Lotus is solely on technology transfer.
August 21, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
Saw a Jag with a white LIMO plate yesterday on the way to KLIA, really shocked me..
August 21, 2006 @ 9:17 pm
da hyunkia r doin their usual stupid stuff again.
August 22, 2006 @ 12:55 am
hyundai is getting very good. toyota better watch out.
August 23, 2006 @ 9:24 am
even if Hyundai took-over Jaguar, Jaguar car development still will be done by it’s own R&D department.. just like Proton & Lotus.
but posibility Hyundai will co-develop with Jaguar on new better hi-tech platform and secondary version luxury for Hyundai line-up.
Hyundai not stupid to design for Jag.