Consider:
After Ford bought Jag, they fired many of the old-timers who had worked the production lines for years in order to bring in "new blood" to revamp the facility. They immediately found (among MANY other problems) that the new workers couldn't produce a straight crankshaft, so they rehired a few of the old workers back to explain why. They were told that the machines were worn, so you had to lean against them just right to keep them in line.
So Ford replaced the worn-out machines & shipped over a testing machine to check the quality of the new cranks. After several more weeks of low-quality cranks coming out, they toured the facility & pulled several "tested" cranks off the assembly line and carried them back to the new tester. When they asked the workers to demonstrate how the cranks passed the test, they found that the power cable to the machine was NOT connected and wouldn't even reach to be connected.
It's that kind of attitude that has caused these UK brands to falter to the point that they HAVE to sell themselves to Ford, and why they have NO reason to complain if Ford chooses to sell them or close them.
