Britain’s famous Land Rover assembly lines will not be operating tomorrow or next Thursday as workers at the Solihull plant have been told to prepare for a ‘four-day week’.

The move by Land Rover management is believed to be as a result of diminished sales due to the UK credit crunch affecting both private and corporate car buyers.

The Solihull work force has been told to report as normal but will likely stand idle as the lines are shut down to save on power and material costs. This may also serve to prevent a large stockpile of vehicles forming which would be presumably expensive to store.

Land Rover was recently bought from Ford by Indian company Tata who have stated an intent to keep Land Rover manufacturing in the UK. However, the costs of the UK operation will undoubtly be playing on the minds of the board at Tata who will know they could call on far cheaper labour and facilities at their other plants across the globe.

My guess at Land Rover’s best course of action would be to press ahead swiftly with the development of the new ‘Baby Land Rover’, making it the lightest design possible and trying to squeak-out the highest possible fuel economy. A low price point would be beneficial too but there are many constraints on this, not least the soaring cost of raw materials.

Tags: four day week, land rover, recession, sales, tata

So Land Rover and Jaguar have been bought by Tata at long last as a result of a £1.15/billion deal.

Despite American ownership in recent years, the two marques have been considered as the last bastions of British automotive manufacturing. Now many feel that the Land Rover factory at Lode Lane in Solihull and the Jaguar plants at Castle Bromwich and Halewood could be at risk of industrial ‘outsourcing’.

Tata, as India’s second largest industrial group has massive, low-cost industrial facilities in the East. They could realise huge increases in profits* by simply moving the manufacturing base to a cheaper country. Naturally, Tata deny they intend to do anything of the sort, much like SAIC and Nanjing automotive claimed that jobs would remain at Longbridge just before they ripped out all of Rover’s tooling and shipped it to China. All that now remains at Longbridge are some bulldozed sites, an under-let ‘technology’ park and a tiny CKD assembly operation that barely seems worthwhile.

Only time will tell whether the Defender and it’s kin are lost from our shores and whether the lines at Castle Bromwich will fall forever silent. On past experience, I don’t think we’ll have to wait long.

*This depends on the global market for SUVs and heavy luxury cars not collapsing under the credit crunch and fuel price inflation.

Tags: castle bromwich, halewood, india, jaguar, land rover, lode lane, nanjing, rover, saic, tata

Ford has sold the Land Rover and Jaguar marques to Indian company TATA for what seems like a paltry £1.15bn.
Jag and Land Rover represent 16,000 British jobs in Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands and on Merseyside.

While no immediate changes are planned by TATA to the British workforce, no direct assurances are given about the future safety of jobs (at least not publicly).

TATA famously introduced the ‘worlds cheapest production car’ recently. They will now preside over the manufacture of some of the world’s most expensive cars.

Tags: ford, india, jaguar, landrover, sold, takeover, tata, uk

As anyone who lives in the UK will know, our remaining automotive industry is exceptionally thin on the ground. With the loss of Rover in 2005, there is now no major domestic car manufacturer under British ownership.

In the interests of unfounded optimism, I thought I’d have a look at which of the time-served British marques were still owned by British companies and could potentially (although not probably) be used for future British car production. Marked in Red are marques that are still owned by UK companies, in Blue are UK companies still manufacturing cars and in black are names that have been aquired by foreign companies.

• AC Active: Alan Lubinsky (Hal Far, Malta)

• Austin Defunct: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

• Bristol Active: Tony Crook (UK!)

• BSA Defunct as a manufacture, now parts company UK

• Daimler Active: Ford Motor Company (USA)

• Jaguar Active: TATA Motor Company (India)

• Land Rover Active: TATA Motor Company (India)

• Leyland Defunct: Possibly Volvo or Nanjing

• Lotus Very active UK company. Majority shares probably held by Proton via LGIL

• MG Active: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

• Mini Active: Formerly a model name, now a marque (capitalised as MINI) BMW (Germany)

• Morgan Active: Charles Morgan (UK!)

• Morris Defunct: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

• Nuffield Defunct: Possibly now Nanjing Automotive (China)

• Riley Defunct: BMW (Germany)

• Rover Defunct: Ford Motor Company (USA)

• Triumph Defunct as a car manufacturer. Offshoot Triumph Motorcycles is active. BMW owns Triumph cars brand.

• Vauxhall Active: General Motors (USA)

• Wolseley Motor Company Defunct: Nanjing Automobile Group (China)

Out of the remaining names, Lotus is the biggest operation and is still a fairly autonomous company despite much of it’s shares being owned by overseas companies. Morgan are still very British and are experimenting with hydrogen fuel-cell cars and Bristol are still Bristol

Tags: ac, alvis, austin, bmw, bristol, bsa, daimler, ford, gm, jaguar, land rover, leyland, lotus, mg, mini, morgan, nanjing, nuffield, riley, rover, tata, triumph, vauxhall, wolseley

It has been announced today that the Ford Motor Company has instructed Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and HSBC to sell off the Luxury brands of Jaguar and Land Rover.

Both Renault and Fiat have been speculated to be interested in buying the marques but have both denied any interest.

The private equity group Alchemy Partners has also denied a news report that they were lining up a £3bn ($5.91bn) offer for both.

Rumours of job losses and further plant closures in the West Midlands have been rumoured for both Land Rover and Jaguar in recent years.

The sale of Britain’s Rover marque in 2005 lead to the loss of around 6000 jobs in the West Midlands

Tags: ford, india, jaguar, landrover, takeover, tata, uk