Russians not interested in Jaguar or Range Rover

Fresh from posting a handy second quarter profit Ford are pressing on with the sale of their Jaguar and Land Rover Premium Automotive Group (PAG) brands. There have been a number of rumoured suitors including the Russion billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s Russian Machines automotive group called GAZ.

It was even rumoured that Deripaska would be interested in Volvo should Ford decide to sell off the last of its ill-fated PAG group brands. However, a spokesperson for Russian Machines has confirmed that the ruskies have no desire to buy into the ailing british brands.

"There is no interest from my company or from our subsidiary Gaz in any of these brands," a spokesman for Russian Machines, the engineering and automotive arm of Deripaska's Basic Element group, said today.

Although the Russian’s have pulled up stumps, the Indians are still as keen as curry with Tata Motors and their rival Mahindra & Mahindra settling into a couple of weeks of due diligence along with a number of other interested bidders. MG’s are now Chinese so an Indian Jaguar saloon or Range Rover Discovery should seem almost normal.

Source : Automotive News