The success of Land Rover, a company originally spawned off and owned by British carmaker Rover Company, saw its successes in the 70s dwindling owing to the parent company, British Leyland Motor Corporation’s financial troubles. As declines caused one takeover after another, the brand was then bought by BMW in the mid-1990s. But that too didn’t save the carmaker from its troubles. It was given another lease on life when Ford acquired the brand as part of its then Premier Automotive Group (PAG) in 2000, which then also included Jaguar, Volvo and Aston Martin.
The car manufacturer soon experienced financial performance troubles under Ford. The troubles compelled Ford to offload Jaguar and Land Rover to the Indian owned Tata Motors, and the Volvo brand to Geely Automobile of China.
Why couldn’t such previously successful brands be rescued by more successful and formidable carmakers like BMW and Ford? And why have the initially much “deplored” Chinese and Indian carmakers such as Geely and Tata, do the unbelievable and turn these companies around so quickly?
What lessons can we, as owners of small companies, learn from the history of Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo to ensure our growth and development isn’t stunted by the same challenges they experienced? By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 October 2016. Continue reading →