WOULD-BE buyers and motor analysts are questioning whether Jaguar and Land Rover are now so inextricably linked that Ford could not sell one without the other, even if it wanted to.

The two brands, which are built only in Britain, share a factory in Halewood, Merseyside, which makes the X-type Jaguar and will soon make the new Land Rover Freelander. They share distribution and and often dealerships. They, and Ford-badged cars built in Europe, share parts. At the top level, Jaguar and Land Rover share some management.

Land Rover is the profitable half of the partnership, with popular models, a restored reputation for quality and strong sales, despite the growing concern about gas-guzzling vehicles. Jaguar, despite heavy investment by Ford, is struggling to find a road into profit. The new XJ has won critical acclaim and the S-type has a solid market but the X-type has fallen well short of expectations. Jaguar’s smallest and cheapest car was designed to bring in a bigger and younger market as the brand attempted to become a volume producer, but the bold experiment looks to have failed.

Because Jaguar is the real problem, Ford may want to divest it on its own. But buyers with financial firepower may want the strength of Land Rover. Those with less buying capacity may aim to pick up Jaguar on its own on the cheap.

The last big unravelling of a car company came with the Rover group when BMW, its then owner, sold Land Rover to Ford, gave away the car business to a group of West Midlands business people, and hung on to the highly popular Mini. Many car industry observers believe that that dissection was the death sentence for the car business, which was too tiny to compete. The same fear will hang over Jaguar if it is split off and is not bought by a leading car manufacturer.

Physically, it would not be impossible to split the businesses, despite the links between them.

Neither is commercial secrecy something that need bar the division of the two marques. Under the bonnet many cars share a vast array of common parts and on the road they have some striking similarities. Shared platforms and joint ventures have become an increasingly strong trend in the industry. They help to share costs, particularly on expensive projects such as engine design.

Peugeot Citroën, for example, has used joint ventures for many recent developments and has links with Ford, BMW, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Fiat and Renault.

If a new owner took on just Jaguar, it might be able to work with Ford on the shared aspects of production, just as most of the industry works together now.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive