JANUARY 16, 2002

Ford to sell off Britain's Kwik-Fit

AS part of the plan to make the company profitable again, Ford is believed to be selling off its car repair business in Britain known as Kwik-Fit. This is in part due to the cuts in Detroit but also because it is expected that the European Union will shortly stop car manufacturers from controlling servicing arrangements.

Ford is looking at selling a variety of other "non-core assets" in the hope of raising money to help offset the huge loss which is expected to be announced for 2001. This is believed to be more than $5bn.

Ford is the parent company of the Jaguar Racing F1 team.