In an exclusive interview after his company set a new diesel land speed record, Bamford told Inside Line, “If Ford can separate Jaguar from Land Rover, I'd like to buy it.”
Commentators had been suggesting that Ford would only be able to sell loss-making Jaguar if it packaged it together with profitable Land Rover, but Bamford is only interested in the troubled luxury carmaker.
“If they sold Jaguar to me Ford could then make a lot of money by selling Land Rover,” he said. “Selling the two together won't make much because Jaguar is regarded in the world as a dog.”
Bamford's pitch may seem bombastic, yet is quite credible. JCB is a highly profitable family-owned manufacturer of heavy-duty vehicles. Earnings for 2005 came in at
