Re: Ferdinand's Folly (paying $780 mil. for Bentley)

[Robert Malinka <rmalinka@spec.net>]

At 03:04 PM 7/31/98 PDT, you wrote:
>Joe,
>
>     Yeah, you're absolutely right.  BMW got just the name.  However, 
>who the hell wants anything else?  Why would anyone want the Rolls 
>factory, people, etc.?  

Eric,

I think if Ferdinand invested that kind of money in Bentley he wants to
build cars.
Look how much Ford invested in Jaguar?  They're are in billions when adding
up the initial purchase price plus all the money Ford invested into the
Jaguar factory and infrastructure to modernize the operation several years ago.


>The Rolls operation is mired in late 60's 
>technology and is grossly inefficient; it's worth a warm bucket of spit.  
>The Rolls name is the only thing that's worth anything.
>
>Eric Wang
>1994 Black Vento VR6 -- Eibach Pro-Kit, Remus cat-back exhaust, Autotech 
>Q-Chip, K&N drop-in filter

I agree and disagree on that one.  If you want to build luxury cars quickly
with a trained work force you need the current factory and work force. I
think it will cost a lot less for VW to get the Bentley line humming than
starting from scratch building a whole new car with the Rolls name on it.
Besides 70% of all the cars coming out of the factory were Bentley's.
Bentley has a reputation for building sporty top of the line luxury cars
which I think VW has in mind to use as a platform to display it's technical
prowess. I think this falls more in line with what VW is into in terms of
the market they wish to capture.  I think Rolls is not in that area of the
market and BWM will have to be very careful in coming out with a successor
to the original car. The name is worth something but without the factory and
people I think BMW is missing the company's true capital assets, which VW
will quickly be able to profit on with investment in new technology and
training.


Bob