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When I liveblogged Ford's Q2 financial results almost a month ago, several questions came up from the analyst audience about what Ford plans to do with the Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover brands. While Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) CEO Alan Mulally stated that Ford is not interested in divesting itself off Volvo in any way, the company is still looking at many options to unload the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

According to many sources, the boards of both brands have been meeting with potential bidders to buy both from Ford. Mulally indicated that Ford was aggressively looking to selling off the two Britain-based brands and now "the process is well under way," according to Jay Ward, a spokesman for Land Rover and Jaguar. How long will the sale take? My guess is that Ford will have sold both divisions by the end of this calendar year.

Ford is in a rush since those are both non-core brands without a huge amount of customers (in Ford's overall picture), although brand loyalty is pretty strong with both brands. Ford's meandering moves in the last few years under former CEO Bill Ford, Jr. have been obliterated by new CEO Alan Mulally, an operational exec who moves fast and furious when re-building what he needs to in order to restore profitability. Ford is no exception, and if Mulally can dig the U.S. automaker out from its current multi-billion-dollar hole by 2009, it will be somewhat of a magic trick considering where Ford was when he took over. Selling a few marquee but non-important brands is a good step in getting Ford back in the consistent profit game.

Boards of Ford's (F) Land Rover and Jaguar brands lining up bidders originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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