News 02 November 2004 Red Bull and Jaguar Energy drink Red Bull is now unlikely to buy Jaguar, the brand's motor sport advisor said last week. Austrian Helmut Marko, who raced in nine grands prix in the Seventies before a stone damaged his eye, told Autosport that 'time is running out' for a deal with the Ford Motor Company. He added: "The problem is that (the Ford) people who are deciding the future ... have no clue about F1." 350 staff will lose their jobs if a buyer is not found for the Milton-Keynes based Formula One team before mid-November. Source:f1racing.net Well, what do you think? Does Ford have an outragious price tag on the operation? Is it Red Bulls contention that they could hire all these folks in a few months and be up to speed in a short time for a fraction of the cost? Jim
Considering Ford's on again/ off again affair with F1 (with respect to their level of commitment, driver line up and fiscal investment) anyone who have a clear, uninflated set of goals could do a better job with the resources - Ford, I would suppose, is asking too much for the team and is holding out to cut its losses. It's the same old, same old; they don't have a clear notion of what's really going on.
I understand that the Jaguar team is currently costing Ford $2M per week! TO close the operation down if no buyer is found by Nov 15th will cost approx $450M. I think Ford would accept just about anything for someone to take the team off their hands. Red Bull and any other prospective buyers would be stupid to sign anything until the last possible moment. They need Jaguar to be desperate to sell! However Ford need to convinced that any buyer is really serious. From http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=22832: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is the link. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4012381.stm The good news is a lot of workers will get to keep their jobs.
