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In some ways, we have been remiss with our coverage of the potential restructuring of Ford Motor Company through the sale of Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. Most of the reporting in the popular and business media has been tilting at windmills. Reporters reporting rumors without verifying facts. And the latest twitch that Ford is to soon announce it is selling Volvo may indeed be the same.

Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo comprise Ford’s Premier Automotive Group and their American headquarters are just five exits south of AutoPacific on the 5-Freeway. Of course, Ford has already sold off Aston Martin for just shy of $1 billion. Is there more to follow? We don’t KNOW, but we have some ideas.

Is the Press Generating its Own News?

If you have followed the business news, the British press has piled on Ford selling Jaguar and Land Rover. Jim Hall’s June 27 story puts much of the rumor blame on Keith Crain’s Automotive News having overreacted to a short blurb in British car mag Autocar. Once AutoNews ran the story everyone else jumped on. Similarly, recent reports have Ford selling Volvo a much larger and more profitable proposition than selling off Jaguar and/or Land Rover. Would there be a likelihood that Ford could off-load all of PAG? Another don’t KNOW, but it would be difficult. More on that later.

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As the auto industry reviews its future under what certainly will be tougher Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, cycle plans at each company are being scrutinized. What is happening is that some vehicles are being deferred as studies are carried out to determine if their fuel efficiency can be improved. Those that will definitely damage CAFE are being put on the chopping block if acceptable offsets cannot be found. On July 17, 2007 Chrysler Group announced that the Chrysler Imperial is being scrapped.

Thank Heavens The Emperor is Dead

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Sometimes it pays to open emails. A couple of months ago, good friend Dave O’Connell - chief designer for Mitsubishi Motors R&D Americas gave me a heads up about a car created by n2a in Santa Ana, California. “юa” stands for No 2 Alike or each car is unique. Dave attached some images from юa’s website that are spectacular. Thought you’d like to take a gander at the юa 789 - a car that takes design cues from the 1957, 1958 and 1959 Chevrolets. Think about it, the front end of this car starts with the extremely tasteful, elegant front end from the 1957 Chevy and ends up with the totally berserk batwings of the 1959. Riding on a Corvette chassis, юa has done an outstanding job.

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By now everyone has heard that Cerberus is acquiring Chrysler Group from DaimlerChrysler… uh, Daimler-Benz AG or Daimler AG. Going by history, when Lee Iacocca renamed Chrysler Corporation the NEW Chrysler Corporation after their loan guarantee in the early 1980s, it is apparent that Chrysler will now be called The NEW Chrysler Corporation II.

But in recognition of their acquisition by Cerberus Capital Management, they need a feature model and what feature model is more appropriate than the Chrysler 300Cerberus comlete with its own three-headed dog hood ornament. We assume this will not meet pedestrian collision requirements in Europe.

By now everyone has heard that Cerberus is acquiring Chrysler Group from DaimlerChrysler… uh, Daimler-Benz AG or Daimler AG. Going by history, when Lee Iacocca renamed Chrysler Corporation the NEW Chrysler Corporation after their loan guarantee in the early 1980s, it is apparent that Chrysler will now be called The NEW Chrysler Corporation II.

But in recognition of their acquisition by Cerberus Capital Management, they need a feature model and what feature model is more appropriate than the Chrysler 300Cerberus comlete with its own three-headed dog hood ornament. We assume this will not meet pedestrian collision requirements in Europe.

I really wanted to drive a Land Rover Freelander II (LR2 in the USA) when I was visiting England, but the Land Rover folks “only” had a Range Rover Sport available with automatic transmission and a navigation system. Apparently, the available Freelander IIs were all manual trannies and shifting with my left hand is not a forte of mine. The RR Sport was featuring the all new 3.6L V8 Twin Turbo diesel and, for an American driver, getting the diesel was a treat.

The Range Rover Sport is a sporty derivative of the more boxy Discovery II - known here as the LR3. In fact, the RR Sport looks much more like the range topping Range Rover than the LR3, but the innards come from the less expensive Land Rover. Besides the unique body styling and faster rear end, the Sport has extractor vents on the front fender. But then who doesn’t these days?

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