JULY 21, 2004

Looking at the books at Jaguar

The Ford Motor Company has just announced its second quarter profits of $1.2bn but the company was quick to point out that this was due to its successful financing operations rather than car sales. Ford's automotive operations are losing money and the Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar, Volvo, Land Rover and Aston Martin, posted a worrying loss of $359m despite increased sales. Ford warned that PAG will probably finish the year having made a loss and said that it needs to undertake more restructuring at Jaguar. The only good news on the car front was that Ford of Europe is back in profit again, having turned a pre-tax profit of $211m.

The losses at PAG however overshadowed the success in Cologne and the company's chief financial officer Don Leclair blamed exchange rates and expensive retooling at Land Rover and Volvo. However Jaguar was also singled out for cost-cutting and Leclair said that it was "a high priority" to re-evaluate the business structure of Jaguar Cars.

All this is something that must be kept in mind in relation to the Formula 1 programme, even if the Jaguar Racing F1 team is pushing ahead with next year's plans and has a budget already mapped out. The team is keen to bolster its budget by signing up new sponsors while also hoping to hang on to HSBC.