Ford says to buy Rover brand name from BMW

[MartinW]

Presumably the new chief at Ford puts value on the Land Rover brand now that they have decided not to sell Land Rover & Jaguar!
From (http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=mergersNews&storyID=2006-09-18T130838Z_01_L18825139_RTRIDST_0_AUTOS-FORD-ROVER-UPDATE-1.XML) Reuters



FRANKFURT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co will exercise its right to buy the Rover brand name from German premium carmaker BMW, a spokesman for Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG) said on Monday.
"We feel it is in interests of our Land Rover business to have the Rover brand," the spokesman said, adding Ford had informed BMW about its decision on Monday.
"We are acquiring it and we're not looking to sell it. We believe it is a valuable asset for us," the spokesman said, declining to give any financial details.


BMW had no immediate comment.
PAG also includes the Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin marques.
Ford bought Land Rover from BMW in 2000 and had the rights to buy the Rover brand name, which BMW said last month it had agreed to sell to an unspecified partner.
Chinese media reports have said top Chinese carmaker SAIC had agreed to buy the brand name. SAIC has the design rights to two Rover models which it bought from failed British carmaker MG Rover before MG Rover collapsed last year.
SAIC is making its own cars based on the Rover platform, hoping the sell them one day to developed markets including Europe.


© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

[Tony]

Oh dear. What brand will SAIC use now.

[GT]

Some would argue that it serves SAIC right after the fuss they caused...

[MYCaptainChris]

can I see another rebadged mondeo on it's way? :banghead:

[MartinW]

Given Ford's financial crises at the minute, I guess their main aim is simply to stop SAIC using the Rover brand, and protecting the Land Rover brand. I don't see Rover badged cars coming out on any Ford platforms.

Ford must be worried about the future, with NAC-MG already making noises about selling in the US with other Chinese car makers looking to flood the US market with cheap US built products. I wonder if they will pay the price SAIC had offered (£11million).

[Tootall]

The Birmingham Mail has this to say about the deal;

THE proud Rover name is to stay in the Midlands after Ford bought it from under the noses of Chinese car maker Shanghai Automotive, it emerged this afternoon.

Former Longbridge owner BMW agreed to sell the marque allowing the US giant to protect its Solihull-based Land Rover business.

So far, no indication of the price paid has been forthcoming.

Ford had held an option on the historic trademark following the break-up of the old Rover Group six years ago in which it secured the world famous 4x4 brand.

The German luxury car producer had leased the Rover badge to John Towers and his Phoenix consortium during its ill-stared independent running of Longbridge which failed spectacularly in April last year.

Following the collapse, the assets of MG Rover were fought over by two Chinese manufacturers with Nanjing Automobile eventually acquiring the MG marque as well as the Powertrain engine works.

Rival Shanghai had previously bought many Rover blueprints in anticipation of an alliance with MG Rover until the fall of Longbridge into administration brought negotiations to a shuddering halt.

Undaunted, Shanghai opened talks with BMW to buy the Rover name in the hope of gaining a recognised badge which could open the door to western markets.

However, today's news will be a significant blow to the Chinese firm's hopes.

Land Rover senior spokesman Don Hume said today: "Land Rover has decided to take up the right of refusal on the Rover name. It goes back six years when Ford acquired Land Rover from BMW.

"It is primarily to protect Land Rover as Ford views it as a valuable name so there will be no intention to sell it on. But it is far too early to say what will happen now."

[MartinW]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9067-2364242,00.html

Ford pays £6m for Rover marque
From James Doran in New York
http://images.thetimes.co.uk/images/trans.gif
THE prospect of Rover rising from the ashes was revived once again yesterday as Ford, the ailing American car manufacturer, bought the rights to the former luxury British car marque for about £6 million from BMW. Ford is not expected to bring back the Rover in its old form — a quintessentially British luxury saloon — but is working on plans to introduce a range of “Rover” branded vehicles to fit within its Land Rover range, a source close to the company said.

Ford was granted an option of first refusal to buy the Rover brand when it acquired Land Rover from BMW for $2.7 billion in 2000.

Ford, which did not disclose officially the financial terms of its agreement with BMW, said that it had exercised the right to buy the Rover brand to protect Land Rover, which is part of its Premium Automotive Group (PAG).
“We believed then [in 2000], as we do now, that it is in the interests of the Land Rover business to own the Rover trademark,” Ford said.
Although Ford would not comment on the future of the Rover brand, sources said that the company wanted to build further upon its successful Land Rover brand in North America and has plans to design a so-called “crossover vehicle” using the Rover brand.
“Land Rover could be one member of a new Rover family,” the source said, “with Range Rover and who knows what other kind of ‘Rover’.”
Crossover vehicles are smaller more fuel-efficient versions of the gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) that are becoming less popular in America. Land Rover already makes the Freelander, which is similar to a crossover vehicle, but it has not proved popular in the United States.
The Rover brand was not included in last year’s deal to sell MG Rover to Nanjing Automobile Group, of China, which is planning to manufacture MG-branded sports cars at Longbridge, Birmingham, but it is understood that the Chinese company, and others, had expressed an interest in buying it.
The outside interest, which also came from Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), of China, which owned the rights to build two Rover models before the company collapsed, is understood to have spurred Ford to exercise its option to buy the brand. SAIC is in a joint venture with both General Motors and Volkswagen to manufacture cars in China.
Ford made the surprise move yesterday, as it was revealed that the carmaker recently held brief preliminary talks about a merger or alliance with its arch-rival General Motors.
The talks, between Don Leclair, the chief financial officer of Ford, and Fritz Henderson, his counterpart at GM, were held in August, but are not expected to be revived and no deal between the two is expected to emerge. GM has also been in talks with Renault, of France, and Nissan, of Japan, about a possible three-way alliance. The talks do not seem to have advanced since they were announced in July, however.
Ford and GM are struggling in the face of increased competition from Asian carmakers and rising labour costs.
Last week Ford offered redundancy packages to all 82,000 of its hourly unionised workers and said that it also would cut 14,000 salaried jobs. The company declined to comment about the talks with GM.

[JC.]

Since SAIC cant use the rover brand now... perhapse they aught to go back to BMW's ebay shop for another brand name?
Triumph would be a good choice?

[MartinW]

Riley would be better as they did plan a Riley 75 at one point! Otherwise that old Triumph vs MG rivalry might be good for a laugh!
But from what I have seen most see it as justice that SAIC have lost the Rover name!

[GT]

Rover and LandRover back in the same pot can't be a bad thing, except for Ford's frustrating knack of destroying something good by slapping a new badge on an existing product (X-Type!).

However, the lads at Solihull, should hopefully be pleased to have part of the old familly back and we may yet see the Viking longship re-appear.

Given that the plans seem to be to create more 'crossover' brands, ie) RangeRover... I guess this means the only Rover set to return is the CityRover :lol: :eek:

[MartinW]

From Autowired.co.uk, and the final sentence says it all, no plans to produce Rover Cars! Of course nothing is ever set in stone!


Chinese's plans for Rover shanghaied by Ford
SHANGHAI AUTOMOTIVE'S plans to sell cars under the Rover name have been scuppered by Ford.

The American manufacturer is to exercise its first refusal to acquire the brand name from BMW.

The Chinese manufacturer said in July that it was in talks with BMW to acquire the name. A figure of £11m was rumoured to be the asking price.

But Ford negotiated a deal with BMW when it bought Land Rover from the German firm in 2000, that Ford would have the first rights to the Rover name if BMW came to sell the name.

A spokesman for BMW said today that Ford will now exercise that right, notably to protect Land Rover.

A Ford spokesman confirmed that story adding that it had no plans to start building Rover cars.

[MartinAston]

Rover brand name passes to Ford

The Rover name is still prized despite the firm's collapse
Ford says it will take up the option to buy the Rover brand name, ending an ownership saga lasting several months.
BMW, Rover's former owner, had been in talks with several parties in recent months about selling the name.

Ford retained first option over buying the Rover trademark after a deal which saw it acquire Land Rover in 2000.

BMW retained the Rover brand name after selling the business to the Phoenix consortium in 2000 but decided to sell after MG Rover collapsed last year.

Land Rover interest

Ford declined to say how much the transaction was worth.

"It is in the interest of the Land Rover business to do this," said a Ford spokesman.

"We're not ready to say what we plan to do with the Rover name."

Reports suggested BMW had held talks with two Chinese firms, Shanghai Automotive and Nanjing Automobile, about the name.

Shanghai Automotive opted not to buy MG Rover outright last year but holds the design rights to the Rover 25 and 75 models and has talked of restarting production in the UK next year.

Nanjing bought MG Rover assets - including the rights to manufacture the MG sports car - last year.

[Tony]

MartinAston, threads merged, hope you don't mind. Better to keep it all in one place.

[mgrovernut]

Somehow I sense that Ford will be very tempted to use the Rover brand to expand Land Rover's product line up in the USA. After all Land Rover is on a roll..

[GT]

Other articles on the site have suggested that the Rover name will be used to such an effect, although maybe with more -Rover names, such as Range-Rover, rather than a use of the Viking longship itself.

Although as some have said, a Rover badge may be better suited to the void Ford have tried to fill with Jaguar and the X-Type.