Ford has only owned Land Rover for a few years. I think 2 or 3. Volvo was early that same year, so MAYBE 3 or 4. You have to realize that the cars on the road today were probably developed at least 5 to 6 years ago. AT LEAST. So Ford has nothing to do with any gripes you may have yet.

Ford bought Land Rover from BMW because BMW could not make any money off of Land Rover. BMW only developed one Land Rover - and it is not on the road yet. I forget the name, but it is really nice. The first high tech Land Rover in decades. When Ford bought Land Rover from BMW, they got to keep this vehicle. BMW then sold the Rover car brand to a newly former company of investors and kept the Mini for themselves. BMW had been losing money on that range for a while. In fact, when BMW finally got full control of the Mini, they had to spend millions to re-work most of it.

Likewise, no Volvo is on the road today that has anything to do with Ford. Ford bought both of these brands because Ford isn't doing too well in Europe and also, these brands carry some prestige in the US. Volvo safety technology will also be used throughout the Ford product range.

Neither of these companies could have survived a few more years on their own. It is too expensive to make cars now. With safety testing, government testing, emissions etc, you need to sell tons of cars to survive. Just look at Lotus (a car that survives on its REPUTATION for good handling despite tests to the contrary - but that's another thread!). They have been wanting to sell the new model in the US for years, and will finally do so. But they couldn't afford it until now. They knew they'd never sell enough cars to make up the costs.

Doesn't GM have a stake in Lotus? Does that mean that Bruno hate Lotus now?