Ford Motor Компаниясының Премиум Автомобиль Тобының Тарихы

Organizational division within the Ford Motor Company

The Premier Automotive Group (PAG) was an organizational division within the Ford Motor Company formed in 1999 to oversee the business operations of Ford's high end automotive marques. The PAG was gradually dismantled from 2006 to 2011 with the divestiture of its constituent brands.

The Premier Automotive Group was formed in 1999 under then CEO Jacques Nasser and grew to include the Lincoln, Mercury, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo brands. Forbes estimated that, by 2004, Ford had spent $17 billion building on acquisitions to form PAG. In 2002, Lincoln and Mercury returned to Ford's direct control. Lincoln's headquarters had been merged into PAG's North American office, where it was run by a German executive based in London, England. In 2007, Ford sold 92% of Aston Martin to a consortium of investors headed by David Richards. In September 2006, the rights to use the defunct Rover brand name had been secured from BMW by Ford to protect the Land Rover brand. In March 2008, Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian carmaker Tata Motors. In 2010, Ford sold the Swedish brand Volvo Cars, the last of the PAG brands, to the parent of Chinese carmaker Geely for $1.8 billion. When the headquarters first opened, some of its floors were each specifically dedicated to one of PAG's brands. In late 2008, a deal was announced to lease the former PAG headquarters building in Irvine to the Taco Bell restaurant chain. Although Ford planned to leave a small product development staff on the property, this was widely seen as the end of the PAG story and an ironic comment on the expensive failure of Ford's luxury car strategy. The New York Times asked dryly, "Will they install a drive up window?"

Ford's luxury car division, Lincoln, was part of the Premier Auto Group in the late 1990s, but was pulled out in 2002 as part of Ford's marketing strategy to separate its "import" marques from its domestic ones. During the creation of PAG, Lincoln's line up received a complete overhaul, beginning with the 1998 redesign of the Lincoln Town Car. The same year also saw the introduction of the Lincoln Navigator SUV and in 2000 the Lincoln LS, which shared its engines and platform with the Jaguar S Type, was introduced. All three cars were designed in Irvine, California and were, according to many critics, heavily influenced by Jaguar design themes. In both years 1998 and 2000 Lincoln was the best selling luxury car brand in the US. After Cadillac surged back into the market in 2002, however, Ford pulled Lincoln out of the PAG in what is according to Jerry Flint of Forbes magazine an "impossible to make sense out of strategy." Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors in March 2008 for £1.15 billion. As part of Ford's sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors, the defunct Rover brand name was included, as well as the Daimler and Lanchester marques.

Ford acquired Volvo's automotive division in 1999 while Volvo's commercial vehicles division became a separate company. Both share the use of symbols and trademarks. Geely was reported to have approached Ford in mid 2008 about a possible takeover of Volvo Cars. On 28 October 2009, Geely was named as the preferred buyer of Volvo Cars by Ford. On 23 December 2009, Ford confirmed that all substantive commercial terms for the sale to Geely had been settled. Geely signed a deal with Ford to acquire Volvo Cars for $1.8 billion on 28 March 2010 and closed the deal on 2 August 2010.