Ford May Meld Luxury Brand Units In Irvine

In what would be another boost to Southern California’s growing automotive industry, Ford Motor Co. appears ready to move the North American operations of its Jaguar, Aston Martin and Volvo brands to Irvine next year, combining them with the existing world headquarters of its domestic luxury brands, Lincoln and Mercury.

Word of the proposed move, long rumored inside the world’s No. 2 auto maker, surfaced Monday in an online automotive industry magazine, TheCarConnection.com, which said the move was a done deal “barring a last-minute change.” The article was based on information from anonymous sources.

Lincoln Mercury spokesman Tom Mattia confirmed Monday that Ford officials have been discussing the prospect of combining the European brands’ domestic operations with Lincoln Mercury to benefit from shared administrative, planning and design resources.

A final decision, however, “is several months away,” Mattia said. The European brands’ North American headquarters now occupy separate facilities in New Jersey. Together they have about 700 employees.

Industry watchers say the move would make sense.

As part of its Lincoln Mercury initiative, Ford is moving its Southern California design studio from Valencia to Irvine and designating it a luxury-brands studio. And Lincoln Mercury is building a permanent headquarters in Irvine for 800 employees--more than four times the current work force.

“It’s pretty obvious that something is going to be added,” said one Ford executive, who asked to remain unidentified.

“I believe we’ll see [Jaguar and Volvo] come here next year,” said James Hossack, an analyst with AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin.

Ford shocked the industry last year when it relocated Lincoln Mercury’s corporate headquarters to Southern California--marking the first time since World War II that an existing domestic brand had left Michigan.

Since then, Lincoln insiders have praised the move as one that has freed the division to make decisions and implement plans more quickly and with more imagination than had been possible operating in the shadow of the larger and more powerful Ford division in Dearborn.

Ford’s luxury brands were wrapped into Premier Automotive Group last March, and the company hired Wolfgang Reitzle, the former second in command at Bayerische Motoren Werke of Germany, to head the unit.

Reitzle, who keeps the Premier Group’s worldwide management headquarters in London, then hired BMW of North America’s president, Victor Doolan, to head the group’s North American marketing efforts. Doolan, who had been in New Jersey with BMW, immediately relocated to Lincoln Mercury’s offices in Irvine.

Ford intends to keep the different luxury brands--each of which has its own audience--separate and distinct.

But the company is cutting costs by sharing platforms, the basic design of a vehicle’s frame and running gear. The year-old Jaguar S-Type sedan and Lincoln’s new LS sedan share a platform, for example, and a shortened version of it will be used for the two-seat 2001 Ford Thunderbird. Ford also shares platforms with Japanese car maker Mazda Motor Corp., in which it has a controlling stake, and Volvo’s new S80 platform is expected to provide the basis for future vehicles in the Ford family.

Jim Hall, a Detroit-based analyst with AutoPacific, says he believes that Premier Group’s worldwide headquarters will remain overseas--closer to the three European brands’ manufacturing, design and administrative operations. Relocating to Irvine would open up a nine-hour time gap and make communications difficult.

But there’s no reason, he said, that the group’s North American headquarters shouldn’t be in Irvine with the domestic luxury brands.

Separately on Monday, Lincoln Mercury spokesman Mattia said that although Premier Group plans to concentrate its domestic muscle on building Lincoln, the weaker Mercury brand will survive.

Responding to persistent rumors that Mercury is on the way out, Mattia said that although there are no plans to add unique nameplates to the Mercury lineup, several existing lines will add models, including the Cougar and Grand Marquis. Mercury is also revising its Mountaineer sport-utility vehicle, an upgraded version of the Ford Explorer.