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2008 World Car of the Year: Mazda

The 2008 World Car of the Year is the Mazda2/Mazda Demio.

The Ford Mondeo placed second, with the Mercedes-Benz C-Class third.

To be eligible for a World Car award, the contender had to be in production, and sold, on at least two continents during 2008. The winner of the overall World Car of the Year Award must excel in a broad range of attributes.

The 2008 World Performance car of the Year is the Audi R8.

The BMW M3 came in second, and the Audi S5 Coupe third.

The World Performance Car award must demonstrate "a specific and overt sports/performance orientation while satisfying the same availability criteria as for the overall World Car of the Year award."

The World Car of the Year is a non-profit program. Vehicles are selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprised of forty-seven (47) top-level automotive journalists from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. The award itself has no affiliation with any auto show, publication, automaker or other commercial enterprise.

Tags: automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, World Car of the Year, Ford, Ford Mondeo, Mazda, Mazda 2, Mazda Demio, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi, Audi R8, Audi S5, BMW, BMW M3

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Ford goes small in Europe

Ford wants to launch a small car for the European market in 2010; it would be a different car than the Fiesta.

The new model would be built at their recently acquired Romanian plant in Craiova, where they will have spent $2.6 billion dollars over the next five years in order to increase capacity to 300,000 units per year, and from 3,900 to 7,000 workers.

Tags: Ford, Ford Romania, Craiova, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Tata buys Jaguar, Land Rover for $2.3B

India's Tata Motor will finalize, in June, the much-awaited purchase of Ford's high-end  Jaguar and Land Rover operations for $2.3 billion dollars, pending regulatory approval.

Jaguar and Land Rover are part of Ford's PAG, Prestige Auto Group, which bit by bit is being disbanded.

Ford will also commit to injecting $600 million into the Jaguar and Land Rover pension funds.

As Automotive News says,

"The sale of the two European brands culminates a key part of Ford's ongoing restructuring program, which is expected to improve the company's focus on its core Ford brand."

Tags: Ford, Tata, Tata Motors, Jaguar, Land Rover

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World Car of the Year 2008 finalists

World Car of the Year finalists:

1. Ford Mondeo
2. Mazda 2/Mazda Demio
3. Mercedes-Benz C-Class

To be eligible for a World Car award, the contender had to be in production, and sold, on at least two continents during 2008. The winner of the overall World Car of the Year Award must excel in a broad range of attributes.

World Performance Car finalists:

1. Audi R8
2. Audi S5 coupe
3. BMW M3

The World Performance Car award must demonstrate "a specific and overt sports/performance orientation while satisfying the same availability criteria as for the overall World Car of the Year award."

The World Car of the Year is a non-profit program. Vehicles are selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprised of forty-seven (47) top-level automotive journalists from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States. The award itself has no affiliation with any auto show, publication, automaker or other commercial enterprise.

Tags: automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, World Car of the Year, Ford, Ford Mondeo, Mazda, Mazda 2, Mazda Demio, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi, Audi R8, Audi S5, BMW, BMW M3

Tata acquisition of Jaguar, Land Rover imminent

Tata Motors and Ford have agreed on a purchase date for Jaguar and Land Rover, the two brands that until now were a part of Ford's PAG: Premier Automotive Group.

Tata will make the official announcement on March 5 or 6, says Automotive News.

The transaction is said to be valued at $1.5 to 2 billion dollars. Both brands will continue to be built in England at least for the time being.

This follows talks between Tata and trade union leaders last week to finalize details. Major union spokespersons have said that all is well with India's largest automaker, who is making a big move on the global front with this acquisition.

Tags: auto industry, Ford, Tata, Tata Motors, Land Rover, Jaguar

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Top brands in the world: #41-50

Interbrand ranks global brands every year... moving on down the chart, hare are brands #41 through 50 from their most recent yearly report for 2007:

41. Ford

42. Philips

43. Siemens

44. Nintendo

45. Harley-Davidson

46. Gucci

47. AIG

48. eBay

49. Axa

50. Accenture

Related posts:

• Top brands in the world: #1-10

• Top brands in the world: #11-20

• Top brands in the world: #21-30

• Top brands in the world: #31-40

Tags: branding, brands, marketing, top brands, Ford, Philips, Siemens, Nintendo, Harley-Davidson, Gucci, AIG, eBay, Axa, Accenture

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Jaguar and Land Rover to India?

A while back Ford made known their intentions of selling their Jaguar and Land Rover brands, and it looks like things are coming to a close, according to the Sunday Times.

The winning bid looks likely to be from Indian powerhouse Tata Motors, for some $2 billion dollars, outbidding local rival Mahindra & Mahindra and private equity firm One Equity Partners.

Tags: Ford, Jaguar, Tata, Tata Motors, Land Rover, Mahindra & Mahindra, India, India auto industry, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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India's Tata wants Jaguar

       
Tata Group is interested in acquiring Jaguar and Land Rover.

Ford is the current owner of both prestige brands, which are part of their  Premier Automotive Group (PAG) unit.

The PAG groups Aston Martin, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. Aston Martin has already been sold for $848 million to an investor group, and Ford has shown interest in selling the other three.

Ratan Tata, CEO of Tata Group, says his company is "certainly interested" in acquiring Jaguar and Land Rover, which would help their efforts to gain scale as well as increase worldwide reach.

Ford is making no announcements before the end of the year. Alan, Mulally, Ford CEO, said a few days ago that the probability of selling both brands is higher that fifty percent.

Rumors say that Ford already has two firm suitors for Jaguar, both led by ex-Ford executives:

• Ripplewood Holdings, with  Nick Scheele, ex-president 2001-2005
• One Equity Partners, with Jacques Nasser, ex-president 1999-2001

Tags: Premier Automotive Group, PAG, Aston Martin, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Ford, Tata, Tata Group, Ratan Tata, Alan Mulally, Nick Scheele, Jacques, Nasser, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Jaguar to China?

On the heels of Nanjing Auto's purchase and re-launch of British marquee brand MG, rumors have arisen saying that Ford may sell Jaguar and Land Rover to China's number one automotive manufacturer, Shanghai Automotive.

Jaguar and Land Rover are part of Ford's "Premier Automotive Group", that also includes Volvo and Aston Martin.

Previous speculations had Ford selling one or both brands to:

1. Cerberus Capital Management, who recently bought Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler. This was last month.

2. Martin Leach, former head of Ford Europe.

3. Former CEO Jacques Nasser, in August 2006.

4. Hyundai.

The UK's Birmingham Post thinks the sale to Shanghai Automotive would make sense.

"SAIC seems to be a credible candidate to buy both Jaguar and Land Rover because the luxury car sector is booming in China as the country gets richer. Not only that, China is seen as a base for getting Jaguars and Land Rovers in Australasia and Japan in greater number."

You may recall that Shanghai Auto recently bought Rover technology and launched their Roewe line of sedans, and also has taken over South Korea's SsangYong. Read more about Shanghai Auto's export plans here.

Tags: Ford, Ford Motor, Jaguar, Land Rover, Ford Premier Automotive group, Shanghai Automotive, Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp, SAIC, SAIC Motor, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry

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India auto industry update (Part 5): Ford in India

As a provider of dealer management systems to automobile dealerships in several emerging markets, we closely follow what happens in the auto industry in key regions around the world. I thought it might be interesting to share some of that information.

This series briefly discusses the promising future of the automotive industry in India, as a consumer market and manufacturing hub. Part 1 was an overview that talked about the great demand expected in India over the next five years, mainly due to the large, growing middle class, and their ultra-low vehicle per capita ratio of 7 per thousand (the U.S.'s is 450).

All major manufacturers have plans in motion, either through the installation of new plants, or via joint ventures with existing Indian automakers. We've already looked at what GM, VW, Honda are doing in India, and today we'll address...

Ford in India

Ford Motor established a subsidiary in India in 1995, called Ford India Limited, in which Indian manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra owned a 50% share. Later that participation was watered down to 16%, and in 2005, all remaining shares were sold to Ford.

Ford India has a plant near Chennai that employs 4000, half blue-collar, all highly trained. Ford India sells the Ikon and Fusion cars and the Endeavour SUV, plus the recently and successfully launched mid-size Fiesta.

Ford and Mazda may be thinking of launching a small car specifically designed for the India market later in the decade, said Business Week recently. This would be similar to what all the other major manufacturers are either already doing or planning to do ASAP.

   

"The Indian auto market is growing rapidly, and we continue to explore all opportunities for growth," says Ford (India) Managing Director Arvind Mathew, based in Madras.

Ford India car sales grew 8.9 percent in 2005, with sales of almost 23,000 units. Their top sellers were the Fiesta and Ikon.

Ford also has ambitious ideas projects for their Volvo line, with which they are planning a joint strategy: Volvo will address high-end market, while Ford will focus on the mid-size segment, as it did with the Ikon earlier and does now with the Fiesta.

This year, Volvo will introduce the S80 sedan and XC90 SUV, and next year the C30 and C70 models. The C30 and C70 share the same platform as the Ford Focus range of cars.

Posts in this series:

• Part 1: Overview
• Part 2: GM in India
• Part 3: VW in India
• Part 4: Honda in India
• Part 4b: Honda in India, two-wheelers
• Part 5: Ford in India
• Part 6: Renault-Nissan in India
• Part 7: Maruti Suzuki in India
• Part 8: Hyundai in India
• Part 9: Toyota in India
• Part 10: Tata Motors in India

Tags: India, auto industry, automotive industry, India auto industry, Ford India Limited, Ford India, Ford, Ford in India, Ford Fusion, Ford Ikon, Volvo, Volvo in India, Volvo India

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