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Jaguar Land Rover has reported a £280m loss in ten months, prompting owner Tata Motors to warn it may have to cut jobs.

Tata also said that further shutdowns were likely at Jaguar Land Rover's factories in Castle Bromwich, Coventry and Solihull.

"There has already been 2000 job losses. We may be looking at more job losses, more plant shutdowns," vice chairman Ravi Kant told a news conference in Mumbai.

Jaguar Land Rover currently employs 14,500 people, having made 450 redund...Read the full article

I pointed out on here a few weeks back that LR should have shelved the Range Rover by now.  Someone said I was wrong because they've sold a few.  I'm not wrong, they have just spent a considerable sum revamping the RR needlessly.  They should have dropped it and focused on the Discovery as their premier brand car.  The management at LR are not competent.  I have never known a company whose brands cross over so ridiculously.  They never brought out a small 4x4 (and left it to other companies to clean up there).  They never brought out a new Defender when they should have done - like at least five years ago.  Even when they build a special like the 60th SVX they balls it up by fitting a diesel engine and a manual box - when the 50th Anniversary sold out because it had a V8 and an auto.  Land Rover are cursed by management that aren't up to the job.

Bad timing for Tata but Ford has to feel some relief about the sale. I feel sorry for all the workers but I think a loan will just stave off the inevitable collapse of the company. Maybe if they moved production to India to save on labor cost and scaled back production to meet current demand they could make it without government loans that just about everyone seems to be against. When the slump ends they could ramp up production again.

Jackflash, moving production to India isn't going to work. The key issue for the immediate time frame is job retention. Announcing you wish to move production off-shore in order to save the business by sacking up to ten thousand British workers would not be the smartest move. JLR is now firmly a political issue and not a business issue. There will be a general election by May 2010. Unless Brown wishes to literally end up on the end of a rope rather than the figurative one most Brits already wish for him then he will move heaven and earth to prevent Tata sacking thousands more JLR workers in the already on-their-knees West Midlands and Merseyside regions. Money by some backdoor method will be made available.

This of course won't make the fundamental issue go away: sales for large, expensive 4x4s have collapsed in the main and the move to smaller crossover/part-time 4x4s/SUVs has passed L/Rover by. By the time thay get the LRX to market the Germans with Q1/3s, X1s, Yetis/VW group equivalents etc will have it swamped. Land Rover is now a gilded millstone around JLR's neck taking them all done. Even Jag has life-threatening problems ahead. The new E-class is a slow burner but proving to have the legs to be a success thereby threatening the XF's fast start. The new 5-series is due next year and BMW have immediately trumped Jag's latest high-tech diesels with their latest twin-turbo six and EU6 emissions compliant single-turbo 3litre. If the new XJ can't repeat the dizzy success of the XF Jag too will be another candidate for the breaker's yard along with the already there Land Rover.

obamabeach:

JLR is now firmly a political issue and not a business issue.

Well I certainly understand the political aspects of the problem, but an impending disaster camouflaged in “have cake and eat it too” fashion is not helpful. I was suggesting that the pragmatic approach would be to survive first and then ramp up production in the UK when things settle a bit and the market for luxury cars strengthens again. The build’em where they buy’em method is proving very difficult for the UK, and the U.S. as well, even if you have a competitive product; when China/India get going lookout.

This is probably why they will not honour their warranty and their customer service is so poor, to mine and others bad land rover experiences, please go to www.landroverhell.com

LandRoverHell.com:

This is probably why they will not honour their warranty and their customer service is so poor, to mine and others bad land rover experiences, please go to www.landroverhell.com

Oh no. Not you again. Get a life, you dullard.

 

LandRoverHell.com:

This is probably why they will not honour their warranty and their customer service is so poor, to mine and others bad land rover experiences

 

You can spout your pathetic rantings on your own website. **** off moron.

obamabeach:

By the time thay get the LRX to market the Germans with Q1/3s, X1s, Yetis/VW group equivalents etc will have it swamped.

Actually, horse, I think the LRX may be closer and better than you expect...

roadtester:

obamabeach:

By the time thay get the LRX to market the Germans with Q1/3s, X1s, Yetis/VW group equivalents etc will have it swamped.

Actually, horse, I think the LRX may be closer and better than you expect...

Dammit, roadtester - you beat me to the unveiling.

Well then please give us your source for any impending release of the LRX.  Let's get one thing straight, it's no use LR just producing another good-looking, petrol/diesel 4x4 that costs footballer's wages, is it?  It needs to be at least a hybrid, and according to AutoExpress yesterday that's AT LEAST still two years away!  The LRX isn't going to save LR.  They should be making small 4x4s, have a Defender replacement out now, and a clear brand strategy.  As much as I would like one, if the LRX comes out early in 2010, costs £45,000, and isn't revolutionary, then it will be pretty much pointless.

 

So, please gentleman, what do you know which you didn't say?

404notfound:

Let's get one thing straight, it's no use LR just producing another good-looking, petrol/diesel 4x4 that costs footballer's wages, is it?

It is if it sells. As for the ludicrous notion of Land Rover basing its luxury strategy around the Disco rather than the higher-priced RR....I take it you don't work in any sort of marketing or product planning job 404?