Has LEAVING Ford Actually ADDED Cachet To The Jaguar And Land Rover Marques? And If SO, WHY?

For those with a fuzzy memory, before Tata controlled Jaguar Land Rover, the firm was owned by Ford. Keep in mind this is when Ford was on a shopping spree and also picked up Volvo and Aston Martin.

Now that Ford has divested from Jaguar Land Rover, it appears to have been a good thing for the legendary marques. Products are becoming more unique and embraced while quality has stepped up from where it use to be.

With that said, would you agree that Jaguar and Land Rover have benefited from this move with a boost in cachet to the brands?

You think so? Tell us WHY in the comments down below.

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Lamborghini_vs_Ferrari_Racer - 4/5/2011 10:39:17 PM

+4 Boost

TATA is smart to let Jaguar and Land Rover operate independently unlike Ford which had a fetish for using cheap Ford parts on high end Jags and Landies

cdoke - 4/6/2011 5:21:36 PM

+1 Boost

Which Ford parts made an appearance in the XJ, XK and Range Rover, besides electrical fasteners and the like?

Despite what you say, Jaguar and Land Rover were their own companies and did operate somewhat independent of Ford, with the notable exception of the X-type, keeping Jaguar firmly below Aston Martin,a nd some other things.

As far as the question- Jaguar and Land Rover are semi-niche brands; not quite like Maserati, but not like Mercedes or BMW either. As such, it benefits them to be free of a larger company like Ford, because it gives them more room to work. There is absolutely no way, for example, that Jaguar would have been allowed to even consider anything like a production version of the CX-75 (or anything even like it) while under the Ford upbrella. (although as a note the XJ220 and XJR-15 were produced when Jaguar was owned by Ford- but that was before Aston was)

I do have to say that I have noticed that in one last act of spite, the new Ford Taurus and Explorer look a little too much like the XJ and upcoming Land Rovers. It would appear that Ford's designers received a far too revealing tour of Jaguar/Land Rover before they were sold.

cdoke - 4/6/2011 6:18:37 PM

0 Boost

..typo central, that message.

BondMI6 - 4/5/2011 10:45:56 PM

+1 Boost

Hard to say and still too soon.

The current quality in the line up was actually planned when Ford owned them- not TATA.

And TATA vehicles are not known for high quality.

How many times have we all seen a TATA Nano catch fire on YouTube?

Agent00R - 4/5/2011 11:34:40 PM

-1 Boost

@Bond

No doubt Ford had a helping hand in better quality but I was referencing more so Jaguar of the 80s -- yikes.

I was just speaking of the brand's progression since darker times.

upwards - 4/6/2011 2:38:40 AM

+2 Boost

00r no backtracking please....

quizz - 4/6/2011 1:10:31 AM

+1 Boost

The brand has progressed in quality thanks to Ford the last 10 years, but it remains to be seen what will happen once Tata takes control of the next generation of products.

Mugwump00 - 4/6/2011 8:00:38 AM

+2 Boost

"more unique" ?! And from what?

mini22 - 4/7/2011 2:26:06 PM

+2 Boost

The forunner of the Jaguar XF was the S type. That shared the platform with Lincoln. The X type was a rebodied Ford Mondeo with awd. The V6 engines were simply retuned Ford Duratec. There were probably a lot of Ford parts that we don't even know about that were in all Jaguars.The one good thing that Ford did for Jaguar was to install quality control methods in construction of the cars. Jaguar are better built and more reliable then what they prior to Fords ownwership. The limitations were Fords corporate culture as far as R&D are concerned. It's amazing that Ford allowed aluminum construction on the previous XJ.An example of limitation is the headlight design for the XF. Jaguar had a better design but Ford told them it was too expensive. Tata really is catering to the needs of Jaguar and Landrover as a luxury entity. Ultimately Ford could not do this. So yes Jaguar/Landrover appear to be better off without Ford. Just look at the new products coming into the pipeline.