Posted on 12/22/2008 4:28:23 AM PST by MyTwoCopperCoins
LONDON: With no signs of financial aid coming from the UK government, Indian conglomerate Tatas have agreed to inject "tens of millions of pounds" into its British car company Jaguar Land Rover, says a media report.
"Tata, the Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover, has agreed to inject 'tens of millions' of pounds into the British car company to prevent an immediate cash flow crisis, while the government continues to consider the case for a taxpayer- funded bail out," the Financial Times has reported.
Jaguar Land Rover has been reportedly seeking financial assistance from the government to the tune of one billion pounds in the wake of sharp fall in sales and credit crisis.
Further, the car maker's chief David Smith has cautioned of thousands of job losses unless it receives emergency aid.
Tatas are striving to raise over Rs 15,000 crore, on top of Rs 13,000 crore it got from sale of equity in a telecom arm. The group plans to mobilise the resources through public offer of debt securities, sale of Tata Motors' vehicle loan pool, private equity placement and soliciting public deposits.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times in its report published online on Sunday noted that the cash injection from Tatas has bought ministers breathing space to respond to demands for multi-billion pound loan guarantees from the car sector.
Quoting a government insider, the daily said, "They (Tata) have managed to solve the immediate difficulties so may be they can resolve some others as well."
Last week, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had said the government does not have "an open cheque book" for ailing private companies and Tatas have the "first responsibility" to ensure the survival of the luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover.
According to the Financial Times, Mandelson is considering whether "Jaguar Land Rover still needs government backing to get through the recession or whether Tata can be called on for further cash support".
However, the report pointed out that Mandelson is understood to be sympathetic to the argument that Jaguar Land Rover could be an exception to his "no open cheque-book" rule for distressed companies, not least because of its heavy research and development investment in the UK.
Jaguar Land Rover has about 15,000 employees in the UK. The Financial Times said that Mandelson this weekend reiterated that the state had to be a "lender of last resort" only after Tata has looked to its own resources.
"Any state support to Jaguar Land Rover would be conditional on the due diligence on the Indian parent being conducted by the government's City advisers," the report said quoting officials.
The daily, attributing to people close to Tatas, said the emergency aid to Jaguar Land Rover came on top of "hundreds of millions" of working capital it had provided since it bought the carmaker for 2.3 billion dollars from Ford in March this year.
The company, along with the rest of the sector, has been hit by a sharp drop in sales and the credit crunch.
"Tata is understood to be adamant that its support for its UK car subsidiary does not negate its argument that the government should provide bridging loans and credit guarantees to the company and the British car sector as a whole," the report noted.
ahem..............well, a massive Tata injection is rarely a bad thing, I suppose............
Their cars are overpriced crappy gadgets.
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/08/10/land-rover-explains-poor-showing-in-initial-quality-study/
Land Rover has offered an explanation as to why it tanked this year’s J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Study. The brand landed last with a rating of 204 problems per 100 vehicles, well below the industry average of 124 ppv. The company says the issue revolved around Land Rover’s switch from BMW-based engines to mills sourced in-house from Jaguar. New engine management software for the vehicles failed to take into account “all the different electrical connections” that Land Rover engines must mate to versus Jaguars. Likewise, in the case of the Range Rover specifically, glitches were caused by the fact engineers retained the original BMW electrical architecture.
In most cases these software glitches triggered fault codes that resulted in the check-engine light coming on, which in turn disturbed many owners and led to the brand’s poor IQS results. Land Rover maintains that it has gone back and fixed the issues along with other niggles like squeaky brake pads and the Range Rover’s tough-to-close back liftgate, and has the data to prove it.
Past quality problems, however, are still haunting Land Rover. In J.D. Power & Associates most recent report, its Vehicle Dependability Study that measures problems reported by original owners of three-year old vehicles, Land Rover also placed last with 438 problems per 100 vehicles, well above the industry average of 227 ppv and quite a distance from the second worst brand on the list, Saab, with 326 ppv.
Perhaps when Tata is a household word, like GM or Ford, people will stop snickering.
Seems Ford owned Land Rover and Jaguar for the last few years. Ford sure did a great job making these two once great auto companies more like Ford.Hey buddy can ya spare a dime?
If you’re buying a FReepin’ Land Rover, you gotta figure you’re buying a maintenance headache. Anybody who plunks down money for a Land Rover and is then surprised to find himself spending Quality Time down at the Service Department has only himself to blame.
My wife wanted one of these when she graduated from Pharmacy school. I begged her not to get one and finally won her over after showing her various consumer reports.
They look cool and have lots of gadgets but spend most of their time in the shop.
She bought a Chevy Tahoe LTZ and loves it!
Bodacious news.
Exactly. Land Rover was still getting over the loss of their BMW mechanicals at the time of the sale to Tata. Plus, Ford never really has been known to understand the needs of most of the companies that used to make up the Ford Premier Automotive Group. A great (bad) example was when Ford started making Jaguar stop buying switchgear for their big XJ sedan from people like Philips, Siemens, and Nippon Denso and substituted the Ford switchgear from a Crown Victoria instead - and then wondered why the Jags with that switchgear suddenly had more complaints and warranty incidents. In fact, they had descended from their 1995-1997 quality peak (with all Jaguar designed or specced equipment) down to below where the 80s Jags with Lucas components were, thanks to all the Ford corporate garbage they started putting in the cars designed after 97.
That’s right, folks - get bought by Ford and eventually your quality will get *WORSE*.
And in 2009 they’re introducing a new model called the “Bodacious..”
Wife and I went to Diamond Lake Oregon in February two years ago to go snowmobiling. 5 miles from Crater Lake.
We rented a Tahoe at the Portland Airport and used its 4 wheel drive to go through roads I normally would never think of going down. Drove and rode outstanding.
darn..you beat me too it..great minds do think alike...
There are some responses which almost write themself. :)
I’m wondering what female FReepers think about the word bodacious.
I think it’s so part of guy lexicon we can’t possibly separate the two words. Do women find the word piggish?
It’s that grey area, I mean it’s arguably a compliment, but I’m not so sure...
Land rover was originally used as a tractor plowing fields. It went to Africa where it became legendary. It was cheap and simple and in Africa where there is no maintenance it ran till it died.
It is indeed ironic that the maintenance level is prohibitive for this once simple but proud truck.
I bought a Series III Rover in 1972. I loved it as a woods vehicle but it was the beginning of the decline. They’d adapted pollution control stuff to it for the US market and that seemed to cause a host of engine related issues. But the danged thing looked like a Land Rover and nothing could better it in the Maine north country.
It’s not the word “bodacious” per se..rather that in 99.999% of the time, it’s linked with “tatas”..which , no doubt, IS offensive to some women..I mean, it’s like telling a lady she has a “nice rack..”
Her Tahoe drives like a dream and we have taken it through some nasty conditions. I wish the gas milage were better even with the active fuel management however it is an 8 cylinder after all.
I hate driving her Tahoe and then getting back into my Honda Pilot. Both cars are less than 3 years old but I call mine the “hoopty” as it is not on par with her Tahoe. :)
Don’t count on it.
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