Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar unit said Wednesday it may consider selling its historic Browns Lane plant near Coventry, England, as part of a recovery plan aimed at boosting its sagging fortunes.
“There are a number of options being discussed,” said spokesman Ken McConomy. “They’re just options at the minute.”
He said selling off the Coventry plant, where Ford announced last year it would halt production, could be one of the options.
McConomy declined to comment on a report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal that Ford planned to cut production at Jaguar by as much as 7 percent next year.
“We’re a company that’s planning a recovery. ... We need to examine all our cost base and our revenue,” he said. “We’re at the very early stages of that.”
“It’s a very tough environment that we’re in, we have said that we’re concentrating on our revenue margins, we’re looking at selling at a higher margin, that could reduce our production levels,” he added.
In October, Ford reported a third-quarter loss of $284 million, dragged down more than $1 billion in losses at its North American division.
The company’s Premier Automotive Group, which includes the Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover brands, reported a pretax loss of $108 million for the quarter, versus a loss of $171 million last year.
The company said it was developing a restructuring plan to be announced in January that will include “significant” U.S. plant closings and staff reductions.
