Mulally himself has recently stated that Ford is behind Jaguar, that Ford has no plans to sell Jaguar, and that Ford continues to invest in Jag because the leaping cat is part of the Way Forward Plan. Ford's reduced first quarter loss came with the help of a 36% improvement in profitability within the Premier Automotive Group. Nevertheless, the vote of confidence doesn't guarantee that Ford won't shed some of Jaguar's workforce.
When the UK's Transport and General Workers Union asked Ford if it planned to sell Jaguar and Land Rover, Ford assured the workers that there was no sales plan on the table. But Ford did say that Jaguar won't balance its books until 2010, and that there would have to be "significant reductions in fixed and operating costs." If Ford doesn't sell Jag, the new model development – to create the kind of Jags that everyone wants, like the C-XF – is sure to put serious pressure on the budget. Ford has said it wants to turn Jaguar into its profitable niche arm, which would hopefully preclude serious cost-cutting in engineering and design. That would appear to leave workers to face the cost-cutting guillotine alone.
[Source The Guardian]
