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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, March 17, 2000

Time-share project going up on Maui

Trendwest Resorts Inc., a time-share company based in Washington state, today said it has started construction on a 200-unit project on Maui. The vacation condominium is being built on a Kihei parcel the company acquired two years ago. It is scheduled to be completed in July 2001.

Through its affiliation with WorldMark, The Club, another time-share company, Trendwest has projects in 31 markets in the Western United States, British Columbia, Mexico and Fiji. The Hawaii time-share properties are on Kauai, the Big Island and in Lahaina.

Ford to acquire BMW's Land Rover

MUNICH, Germany -- Ford Motor Co. agreed to buy Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's Land Rover sports-utility unit for almost $3 billion, bolstering its luxury lineup while allowing BMW to retreat from a costly foray into United Kingdom automaking.

The purchase comes a day after BMW sold its unprofitable Rover Cars unit to U.K. venture capital company Alchemy Partners for an undisclosed price. Germany's No. 3 automaker, controlled by the Quandt family, spent nearly $6 billion trying to make money building cars in the United Kingdom, Bloomberg News reported.

Ford plans to integrate Land Rover into its premium car unit, which includes Jaguar, Volvo, Lincoln and Aston Martin cars, though the world's second-largest automaker is facing some risk as its 1999 European earnings fell 85 percent to $28 million. Land Rover makes about 200,000 vehicles a year.