VW. I mean Porsche, of course, buying all three: Volvo, Land Rover and Jaguar. Outlandish? Less so than the surprise deal with VW at the time.
Think about it. If you forget the VW deal for a moment, Porsche is a surprisingly good candidate. Porsche has the money. Porsche with Land-Rover, Jaguar and Volvo could be very interesting and complementary. Much more so then VW. All three are relatively small brands, very characteristic, very known, very individualistic, very dedicated and loyal customers and potentially very high margin. Sounds like a description of Porsche, doesn’t it?
Jaguar has made an incrediable progress regarding reliability and customer satisfaction. Jaguar is now in Lexus territory. The only real problem is the “conservative” design, which is about to change. So a turnaround of Jaguar might be easier then most assume, because Ford has done the har work.
With Porsche process and productivity know-how, I would bet that all three could become quite profitable, quicker then VW will be turned around. Much less complicated then VW structural problems. All three would benefit from Porsche-branded engineering, engines, chassis, processes without harming Porsche’s core business. Each of them would have it’s own identity and could do something for the others.
Development and production processes could be much more flexible and faster then any cooperation with VW. Neither Land Rover, nor Jaguar or Volvo are direct competitors to Porsche. Jaguar’s two seaters are more GT than sportscars and Landies are no threat to the Cayennes. Ford has already sold the only real competitor to Porsches: Aston-Martin that is.
If it weren’t for the VW committment, my money would be on Porsche. This potential gold mine of the four brands for Porsche makes the VW deal look quite risky in comparison.
What a shame, what a waste.
technorati tags:Jaguar, Aston-Martin, Land Rover, Porsche, Automobile Industry, automotive, VW, Volvo
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