Ford has sold the Land Rover and Jaguar marques to Indian company TATA for what seems like a paltry £1.15bn.
Jag and Land Rover represent 16,000 British jobs in Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands and on Merseyside.

While no immediate changes are planned by TATA to the British workforce, no direct assurances are given about the future safety of jobs (at least not publicly).

TATA famously introduced the ‘worlds cheapest production car’ recently. They will now preside over the manufacture of some of the world’s most expensive cars.

World famous struggling car manufacturer Ford has brandished the proverbial shotgun and taken careful aim at it’s foot.

Ford has sent a legal notice to the Black Ford Mustang enthusiasts club who took photographs of their own cars and then made a calendar, using said photographs, via the CafePress platform.

Ford are quite literally claiming that because they own the design of the Mustang, they therefore own the rights to photographs that owners take of their own cars. As far as I know this wouldn’t wash in the UK or other EU states as any artistic inclusion of a car’s design in a photograph would be ‘incidental’. I would like to hear from anyone who knows whether Ford’s position is actually legal within the USA.

Still, it never ceases to amaze me how large corporations are so ready to attack their own loyal customers. If I were a Mustang fan, I might be considering buying a Toyota or Nissan now in protest.

As anyone who lives in the UK will know, our remaining automotive industry is exceptionally thin on the ground. With the loss of Rover in 2005, there is now no major domestic car manufacturer under British ownership.

In the interests of unfounded optimism, I thought I’d have a look at which of the time-served British marques were still owned by British companies and could potentially (although not probably) be used for future British car production. Marked in Red are marques that are still owned by UK companies, in Blue are UK companies still manufacturing cars and in black are names that have been aquired by foreign companies.

• AC Active: Alan Lubinsky (Hal Far, Malta)

• Austin Defunct: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

• Bristol Active: Tony Crook (UK!)

• BSA Defunct as a manufacture, now parts company UK

• Daimler Active: Ford Motor Company (USA)

• Jaguar Active: TATA Motor Company (India)

• Land Rover Active: TATA Motor Company (India)

• Leyland Defunct: Possibly Volvo or Nanjing

• Lotus Very active UK company. Majority shares probably held by Proton via LGIL

• MG Active: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

• Mini Active: Formerly a model name, now a marque (capitalised as MINI) BMW (Germany)

• Morgan Active: Charles Morgan (UK!)

• Morris Defunct: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

• Nuffield Defunct: Possibly now Nanjing Automotive (China)

• Riley Defunct: BMW (Germany)

• Rover Defunct: Ford Motor Company (USA)

• Triumph Defunct as a car manufacturer. Offshoot Triumph Motorcycles is active. BMW owns Triumph cars brand.

• Vauxhall Active: General Motors (USA)

• Wolseley Motor Company Defunct: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

Out of the remaining names, Lotus is the biggest operation and is still a fairly autonomous company despite much of it’s shares being owned by overseas companies. Morgan are still very British and are experimenting with hydrogen fuel-cell cars and Bristol are still Bristol

It has been announced today that the Ford Motor Company has instructed Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC to sell off the Luxury brands of Jaguar and Land Rover.

Both Renault and Fiat have been speculated to be interested in buying the marques but have both denied any interest.

The private equity group Alchemy Partners has also denied a news report that they were lining up a £3bn ($5.91bn) offer for both.

Rumours of job losses and further plant closures in the West Midlands have been rumoured for both Land Rover and Jaguar in recent years.

The sale of Britain’s Rover marque in 2005 lead to the loss of around 6000 jobs in the West Midlands