'Tata has put hundreds of millions into Jaguar Land Rover'
London, Dec 12: The chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has urged the British government to aid the jewel in the crown of Britain's auto industry, saying owners Tata had already pumped hundreds of millions of pounds into the business.[/b]

David Smith said the company is “one of a handful of high-tech global icons the UK has left” but warned its future was at risk without a bail-out package.

Smith's comments, made in an interview with the Birmingham Post newspaper published Thursday, followed a plea for a billion pound package by Lord Kumar Bhattacharya, who heads the Warwick Manufacturing Group, an industry research body located at Warwick University.

British Business Minister Lord Peter Mandelson is said to be considering the plea.

Smith revealed Tata had already pumped hundreds of millions of pounds on commercial terms into supporting the business. But he said the iconic British carmaker now needed short-term government loans as top-up to help it tide over the credit crunch.

“We need to maintain employment and the skills base. It would be a tragedy if JLR had to lose further skilled workers because of the unavailability of finance,” Smith told the newspaper.

“Our issue is about the lack of availability of credit during this very turbulent period.”He said Tata is a solid business that had taken much time in understanding the JLR operation and the needs of the workforce, and had put trust in local management teams, the Post said.The Indian group was aware of the depth of technology, the talents of its people and the strength of the company's assets.“It is strategically significant for the West Midlands in having a strong Indian partner,” Smith said.“Yet all these things are potentially at stake. We very much hope Lord Mandelson will support the jewel in the crown of the British car industry.”Although JLR had made a profit of 400 million pounds in 2007 and a similar amount in the first half of 2008 alone, Smith said sales are likely to be down 35 percent in the fourth quarter.Some 75,000 jobs are said to be dependent on JLR directly or indirectly.

Source: http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-59673.html

 

Britian does have a lot of jobs at stake but if they agree to help they must make Tata committo keeping all jobs in the country for at least 10 years.

 

That really sounds familiar , like GM, Ford and the rest. How can the world be so f***ed? Bush?

 

No not Bush.

A lot of it goes back to sub-prime lending, which didn't just occur in the US. If you want to blame it on politicians, barking at Republicans and Bush doesn't make sense. Sure the crisis hit while Bush was in office but the foundations of the crisis did not occur under Bush, nor were they implemented solely by Republicans. Should some Republicans share in the blame? Sure... a good number helped pass the catastrophic bills passed under Clinton through Congress. But the philosophical basis for the crisis is that of the Democratic ideology (i.e. sub-prime mortgages, s, etc). Bush can be blamed for many things but the financial crisis is not one of them.

But the main problem is greed. Consumer debt reached unsustainable levels and the market is reacting to correct itself. US car manufacturers should go out of business because of... greed. The average auto worker makes 73 something an hour after overtime and benefits are considered. That's significantly above an average American salary. Yet rather then negotiating a salary cut and keeping their jobs (to get government bailout money) the autoworkers disagrees with the terms.

 

Bush is definitely not theissue. It is easy to point the finger at the leader but it is simply not justified.

It is raining outside today; must be the presidents fault.

 

As all so called 'British' cars are in fact 'English' cars. (there is nothing remotely Welsh or Scottish about a Landie or Jaguar). Put together with the fact that the present UK UNELECTED PM is a Scot, with a largely Scottish cabinet. What interest is the English car industry to the present UK government?
It seems to be Gordon Brown's whole aim as an anti-English Scotsman to RUIN England from within economically in the name of Scottish independence.
Many Americans out there do not realise that England is being despotically lead by a Scottish socialist who did in fact used to belong to the COMMUNIST party.
With this uneducated jealous Scot at the helm of UK inc I fear for EVERYTHING English under this present regime, not just our auto industry!

 

Here is more on the topic including an update:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/3836115.cms

 

Well, everyone seems to be holding their hand out. They bailed wall street out and everyone else wants a check too. I think all the auto companies ought to cut back like everyone else and ride out the recession. Does anyone know what an LR assembly line worker makes? I wonder if its 73 an hour.

I think its time for Land Rover to sell some of their assets.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviatio.../8/1126811.jpg