Jaguar Land Rover Won’t Buy Silverstone After All

Just a few months ago, Jaguar Land Rover was gearing up to acquire Silverstone Circuit in the U.K. But now, the automaker has revealed that the negotiations are off.

“Jaguar Land Rover has ended discussions with the British Racing Drivers’ Club for the foreseeable future and is not proceeding with any plans to either lease or purchase Silverstone at this time,” a spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover told Reuters.

In April, we reported that JLR was prepared to pay $46.6 million for the famous race track. Part of the track was to be designated for driving experiences, training, and customer handovers, while grander plans for the facility included a heritage center, museum, design workshop, and possibly a trackside hotel, according to reports at the time. Racing activities at Silverstone were expected to continue as normal had the JLR deal gone through.

The news is quite unfortunate to the owners of Silverstone, no doubt. Last year, the managing director at Silverstone said the future of the British Grand Prix was at risk if the track couldn’t score a major investor. But it seemed that Silverstone’s fate was more or less on stable ground, given negotiations had reached the next level. In a vote among all 820 members of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, a slight majority favored proceeding with JLR negotiations, we reported back in April.

Source: Reuters

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