Crushed under the weight of car giants: Jaguar and Saab's luxury values have been tainted by their link to Ford and GM, while kudos and rising profits have not materialised for the car giants. John Stones reports on the damaging mismatch

Marketing Week, September, 2004 by John Stones

Family life is not always easy. Loss-making car marques Jaguar and Saab are causing severe headaches for their respective parents Ford and General Motors (GM).

The US corporations bought the luxury car brands believing that their corporate scale would bring efficiencies to their production and marketing operations. But in the process, the auto giants have undermined the individuality of these niche brands and alienated their traditional customers.

Last week's announcement by Ford that it will make deep cutbacks at its UK Jaguar operations looks to some like a recipe for the brand's demise. The US giant's plans for Jaguar led one union leader to warn that the company would "kill off" the brand.

The announcement spells the end of Jaguar car...