OCTOBER 23, 2001
Lauda plans Jaguar's independence
Jaguar boss Niki Lauda told Autocar magazine that his Milton Keynes based team plans to provide its own budget in the near future, rather than rely on its parent company, Ford.
Lauda said he expects his team to receive funding from the profits gained from the 200,000 production cars Jaguar plans to build next year, as well as from sponsors such as HSBC, Becks beer, and AT&T.
The ex-world champion, and current F1 boss, has been busy making deals as of late to ensure his team's long term success. The team recently bought the Orange-Arrows wind tunnel, one of the largest in Europe, and last week announced that it had sold its F3 team to focus all their efforts on Formula 1.
By making his team self sufficient, Lauda puts himself in a position to avoid a power struggle like the one that resulted in the firing of Bobby Rahal earlier this year. While Rahal was thought to be favored by Ford's Jac Nasser, Lauda was brought in by Jaguar's Wolfgang Reitzle.