55 replies to this topic

[MarkWill]

Bearing in mind this is a Nostalgia Forum, I nevertheless have to take issue with our good friend Mr. Pirate. No problem with the first paragraph - Jaguar is being marketed at the moment, and as far as I'm concerned, if it grows sales, so much the better.

My problem comes with the affirmation that Ferrari have it right, with a constant core of good people, and the others just change every year on a whim, because they haven't won with their current bunch. The reality is more that the top teams have lost key players, mainly to Ferrari, who get the luxury of waiting to see who develops well before they come along and cherry-pick the talent from other teams who have spent time and money developing untried talent.

[karlcars]

I know Doug is a relative newcomer to Atlas F1 and to TNF, but I have to mention that I dealt with this theme in Atlas F1 at the beginning of the 2000 season. Not too much has gone wrong with my forecast, which can be seen at the following address:

http://www.atlasf1.c.../ludvigsen.html

[Doug Nye]

Not so much of the 'relative' Karl, I AM a newcomer. I am in complete accord with the thoughts expressed in your original thread - and I was saying then, as now, that this programme is inappropriate. What really annoyed me was the mindless PR campaign - 'The Cat is Back' - which evidently caused the same irritation to many, many more...a counter-productive campaign if ever there was one. Buy out Stewart's problems and perform worse, indeed...

DCN

[masterhit]

I can't understand why they were not branded Ford's from the onset. Anyway, the organisational structure and political infighting has been horrendous, but I have a very unscientific "gut feeling" that at last, with Gunther Steiner at the helm, and with an in house wind tunnel instead of one several thousand miles away, that at last they may start to make genuine progress.

[MarkWill]

Karl, I also agree with much of what was in your original thread, and I find it rather sad that much of it is turning out to be true. I was at the Canadian GP this weekend, and I'm not afraid to say that I was embarassed and angry that the Jaguars were so obviously outclassed. I have revised my opinion (but not my hopes) and I agree that continuing in F1 is just destroying the Jaguar brand name. Strike one for the Ford Marketing guys, Strike two for Jaguar's unfortunate association with the project....one more and they're out (but I still have hope, isn't that the poor man's medicine, according to the Stratford poet?).

[BRG]

Quote

Originally posted by masterhit
I can't understand why they were not branded Ford's from the onset

What's to understand? Why should they have been called Fords? Why shouldn't they call the team Jaguar? Why shouldn't Ford choose to promote their "performance" brand? We need to make a distinction between the original concept and the actual outcome.

Ford bought the ailing Jaguar brand some years ago and first set about sorting out its archaic production facilities and serious quality problems, on both of which they have suceeded admirably. They then developed a new range of models, which are generally regarded as good products. Having put these essential building blocks in place, the next step was to cash in by increasing sales, which they also achieved. So far, so good!

The decision to use F1 to promote the Jaguar brand, by competing directly against Jaguar's competitors Mercedes and BMW, was therefore an entirely logical one. If it makes sense for Merc and BMW to be in F1, how does it not make sense for Jaguar? Ford were already in the WRC and touring car racing, where they can compete using one of their family saloon models, which is important for a volume brand. Their Volvo brand was also in touring cars. F1 is a prestige sport, so it made sense to use one of their prestige brands, Jaguar or Aston-Martin. And as it was Jaguar that they were building up, it was the logical choice for the F1 project. Again so far, so good.

All that has gone adrift is the implementation of the plan. Which has been disastrous by anybody's standards. But it is hard to fault the logic of the original concept.