The Premier Automotive Group (PAG) was an organizational division within the Ford Motor Company formed in 1998 to oversee the business operations of Ford's high-end automotive marques. The PAG was gradually dismantled from 2006 to 2011 with the divestiture of its constituent brands.
History
The Premier Automotive Group was formed in 1998 under then-CEO Jacques Nasser and grew to include the Lincoln, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo brands. Forbes estimated that, by 2004, Ford had spent $17 billion building on acquisitions to form PAG.
In 2002, Lincoln returned to Ford's direct control. Lincoln's headquarters had been merged into PAG's North American office, where it was run by a German executive based in London, England. In 2007, Ford sold 92% of Aston Martin to a consortium of investors headed by David Richards. In September 2006, the rights to use the defunct Rover brand name had been secured from BMW by Ford to protect the Land Rover brand. In March 2008, Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian carmaker Tata Motors. In 2010, Ford sold the Swedish brand Volvo Cars, the last of the PAG brands, to the parent of Chinese carmaker Geely for $1.8 billion. When the headquarters first opened, some of its floors were each specifically dedicated to one of PAG's brands. In late 2008, a deal was announced to lease the former PAG headquarters building in Irvine to the Taco Bell restaurant chain. Although Ford planned to leave a small product development staff on the property, this was widely seen as the end of the PAG story and an ironic comment on the expensive failure of Ford's luxury-car strategy. The New York Times asked dryly, "Will they install a drive-up window?"
Lincoln
Ford's luxury car division, Lincoln, was part of the Premier Auto Group in the late 1990s, but was pulled out in 2002 as part of Ford's marketing strategy to separate its "import" marques from its domestic ones. During the creation of PAG, Lincoln's line-up received a complete overhaul, beginning with the 1998 redesign of the Lincoln Town Car. The same year also saw the introduction of the Lincoln Navigator SUV and in 2000 the Lincoln LS, which shared its engines and platform with the Jaguar S-Type, was introduced. All three cars were designed in Irvine, California and were, according to many critics, heavily influenced by Jaguar design themes. In both years 1998 and 2000 Lincoln was the best-selling luxury car brand in the US. After Cadillac surged in the market in 2002, however, Ford pulled Lincoln out of the PAG in what is according to Jerry Flint of Forbes magazine a strategy beyond comprehension.
Ford sold Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors in March 2008 for £1.15 billion. As part of Ford's sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors, the defunct Rover brand name was included, as well as the Daimler and Lanchester marques.
Volvo Cars
Ford acquired Volvo's automotive division in 1999, and Volvo's commercial vehicles division became a separate company — the two sharing symbols and trademarks.
With Volvo engineers, Ford was able to adapt Volvo's Haldex AWD to Ford models as well as adapt the Volvo P2 Platform to its D3 and D4 Platforms — used for the Ford Five Hundred, Taurus X, Flex and Explorer as well as the Lincoln MKS, MKT.
Volvo engineers incorporated numerous Volvo safety innovations in to these vehicles
Initially, Ford achieved only a tepid market with its D3 vehicles, though after the PAG group divested itself of Volvo, the Fifth Generation Explorer enjoyed broad market success.
Geely was reported to have approached Ford in mid-2008 about a possible takeover of Volvo Cars. On 28 October 2009, Ford named Geely the preferred buyer of Volvo Cars. On 23 December 2009, Ford confirmed that all substantive commercial terms for the sale to Geely had been settled. Geely signed a deal with Ford to acquire Volvo Cars for $1.8 billion on 28 March 2010 and closed the deal on 2 August 2010.