Indeed:
Posted on 03/24/2009 9:18:14 PM PDT by Steelfish
From Times Online March 24, 2009 Jaguar owner warns on survival without bailout
Christine Buckley, Industrial Editor
Ratan Tata, head of the Tata Indian conglomerate that owns Jaguar Land Rover, gave his starkest warning yet on the future of the British operation, saying that it can’t survive without government assistance.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Tata criticised the UK Government for not providing a £500 million loan to Jaguar Land Rover as the luxury brands battle against the slump in car markets.
He said: “If the attitude is to see who blinks first then the damage is going to be quite devastating. We are not coming for a bailout.”
Jaguar Land Rover, which has seen an enormous slide in the sales of Land Rover, had originally asked for a £1 billion loan over two years. But the Government said that Tata should put more money into the business it bought from Ford just a year ago.
Mr Tata warned that Jaguar Land Rover would not be able to carry on without government cash.
At the Mumbai launch of Tata’s Nano, the world’s cheapest car, he said: “If funds are not available, a company will not be able to run. So layoffs will take place, redundancies will take place or in some cases, as has already happened in the UK, not with us, plants have been closed.”
Jaguar Land Rover, like all major carmakers in the UK, is working at reduced capacity.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
Seems like a good set of tatas will get you into a Jaguar...
Or, conversely, a Jaguar can improve your chances of getting a good set of tatas.
What is sad is Ford fixed up Jag and their JD Power score was recently #1! Ford sold it off recently to raise money.
The new XF is a pretty nice 4 door too.
let jaguar go broke.
it’s no great loss to motoring.
From what I read, Tata over extended themselves in buying out Jaguar Land Rover. So they probably would have been in this predicament anyways or hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
Indubitably
Agree the XF is the best designed jaguar- very sexy.
It only costs a day in front of Brit pols and some harsh words. Then it's Belize time, baby!
Very nice looking the XF. Ford also did a super job with Aston Martin which they also had to sell off for money to David Richards backed by Middle East money.
Richards is a smart cookie and owns WRC rallying and I think owns the Subaru rally team through his ProDrive company.
Ford did the same thing. They overpaid and Jag was a wreck. it took them a decade or more to fix and they were just getting there. They wasted something like $500 million on the aluminum Jag 4 door about 5 + years ago. Just crazy. The XF is nice.
Faguar and Rumprover about to get screwed. Hmm.
I think the luxury line of cars has become to crowded. With the rise of Lexus, Acura and Infinity, less people want the old European stalwarts. Jag and Land Rover will most likely need to reduce production and up their price. Act like Porsche and not worry about quantity. But than again what does LR offer that any other SUV product line doesn’t? Like Jag, I prefer the XJ, its the traditionalist in me.
Indeed:
Tata to UK govt: Help Jaguar or I’ll have to cut jobs
http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/mar/25/tata-to-uk-govt-help-jaguar-or-see-job-cuts.htm
Ratan Tata, chairman of the $63 billion (Rs 3,200 billion) Tata group said Tuesday that job losses and redundancies would be inevitable unless the British government provided credit support to Jaguar Land Rover, the iconic car making duo in the UK which his group had taken over last year.
In an exclusive interview to UK’s Sky News, Tata said, ‘If the attitude is to see who blinks first, the damage is going to be quite devastating... because we are not coming for a bailout. Undoubtedly, if funds are not available, a company will not be able to run... so layoffs will take place, redundancies will take place.’
Tata’s comments come a little over two weeks after JLR management and its workers agreed to a two-year pay freeze, subject to no compulsory layoffs for the next two years. This is also the first time the Tata chairman has made a direct public appeal to the UK government for credit support.
I’ll take the jag and the accessories
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