All Entries Tagged With: "Tata"
Jaguar Land Rover Sales Stabilizing
- Jaguar-Land Rover net loss declines to “only” £60 million ($99 million)
- Q2 Announcement comes on the heels of £175 million ($289 million) loan from India
- Group sales rise 23%, Tata records tidy profit
By Gunnar Heinrich
NOT entirely certain what to make of this fiscal info from Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover group.
Jaguar Land Rover Group, jointly declared that sales rose 23% in this latest quarter. The BBC reports that stabilizing losses are due to action seen from the Land Rover division.
Could it be that the new Discovery’s launch is pulling the rest of the group out of the fiscal bog?
Possibly, though, last month’s news was grim across Tata’s board which suggests some media spin at play. Tata Motors lost money last year when the Indian car maker bought the two luxury marques from Ford.
That purchase (which Tata asked the UK government to help finance) started a flow of red ink for Tata; it’s newly acquisitioned Jaguar Land Rover have recorded losses clear through 2009.
Last month, Jaguar Land Rover applied for and received a £175 million loan from the Indian government following Tata turning down further British aid. Reportedly, this brings the total tally of private and sovereign loans to £500 million ($825 million) for Jaguar Land Rover.
Tata’s now recorded an on-paper profit of £2.8 million ($4.7 million) with the latest announcement. Can we directly corelate this Tata profit to an increase in Jag and Landie sales?
Hard to tell with this info coming on the heels of financed capital and within precious few news cycles since October’s loan.
We’ll have a clearer pictures by the second quarter of 2010 when the loans effects are known and the new XJ sedans come to market.
Tata Nano Production Delayed Due To Protests
Tata should count itself lucky. Protest in India was once deadlier.
By Gunnar Heinrich
CHANGE comes slowly and often with adversity.
Or in the case of economic reform in India, as slowly as a 25 year old Jag accelerating on three cylinders and every bit as adverse to the notion of advancing forward.
Trouble is that the country’s industrial progress continues to see many road blocks; thousands in fact.
A good read in the New York Times pointed to the fact that thousands of Indian “peasants” have taken to blocking certain highways surrounding a Tata Motors plant in Singur in protest of the proposed development of their agricultural lands.
In what’s sure to play out with all the melodrama of a Bollywood li’l-man-confronts-high ‘n mighty-bad-guy flick, this story is a likely set back to the Indian auto industry. It’s an industry (and co.) which – fresh off of capturing the crown jewels Jaguar and Land Rover – was about to bring forth the world’s cheapest and cheeriest – the $2,500 Tata Nano.
Not yet, said the rural folk. Production ground to a halt in face of the recent peaceful but prolific protests.
Alas, Fair Daimler, You’ve Had Your Day
By Gunnar Heinrich
PEDDLING about last weekend on Fisher’s Island (a thin strip of New York that sits off Connecticut’s shoreline), yours happened upon the tragic, yet strangely beautiful sight of an old Daimler that had been left to rot in the parking lot of the island’s Mobil gas station.
The hood to the early 50s DB18 Consort had gone M.I.A.; exposing the six cylinder powerplant*** (see below for update) that would’ve – in its day – powered the fixed head coupe up to a reasonable 76 mph and have returned 22 mpg in the event.
But those days were long ago for this bulwark of Post War British motoring.
The exterior sheetmetal had corroded enough to make it appear as though the car had been brought up from the wreck of the Andrea Doria.
It had that salt washed, surfaced ship appearance about it and I wouldn’t be surprised if a colony of hermit crabs had set up shop in the boot.
Still, remenants of an elegant past remain in that signature crenelated grille; still familiar to American Vanden Plas drivers.
Nearby another Jag also sat seemingly neglected, though judging by the (relatively) recent ferry bumper stickers and current Empire State plates, the creamy white sedan’s ultimate parts-bin retirment must still be some ways off.
But the threat looms large with every gremlin that surfaces, no doubt.
The Daimler would likely make for a fascinating restoration project if only someone had the time, dollars or sterling to invest in what is to most motorists outside of Britain a most obscure marque.
Her best days may yet be ahead [!]…
But for now, she sits. Waiting.
[Linked: Daimler.co.uk | Fisher's Island]
UPDATE *** – I have it on very good authority from a reader who refurbishes antique cars that what we’re looking at is not the original straight six engine but rather an old Chevy V8. This proves two things: 1) that I’ve got some learning to do when it comes to engine ID and 2) that this Daimler was under partial restoration until somebody gave up. Should’ve known. According to the reader, “The twin finned valve covers are a dead give away.” Nuff said.
ex. 1) Jaguar XK60 By London Eye
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG by Jaguar Cars via CAR
NEW and old. Old and new.
The British are particularly adept, nay, downright Sisyphean at bringing history and environment into symbolic context.
How appropriate then, that London provided the stage for the launch of Jaguar’s XK60 last month; commemorating 60 years of sporting heritage under the XK nameplate.
In every sense Albion’s capital is where Yorkshire Pudding meets Chicken Tikka. It’s a curried, bloody and wonderful mess of the grandly historic forced alongside the ephemeral.
Mostly, Jag’s catfish XK sticks to tradition – XKE tradition.
Parked next to a rally ready XK120; a hallmark of late 40s/ early 50s GB motoring, the XK60 stands as sharply apart as the towering wheel that’s the London Eye (the base of which we see in the background) does next to the elegantly Edwardian London County Hall (also pictured).
How apt.
An Unlikely Unison
CAR Magazine has been putting all the pieces of the puzzle together this morning and today it looks like a conspir… er… alliance of transcontinental proportions.
“If, as expected, Tata buys Jaguar-Land Rover in the coming weeks, there are some potentially intriguing industrial consequences. Like Jags being co-developed alongside Alfa Romeos.”
Alfas and Jags? Built under the same Indian roof? Could be, Alfa’s owner Fiat has a partnership with Tata that will eventually see an output of 100,000 jointly built Italindian cars.
PROPITIOUS FOR ONE
The prospect does seem full of potential. CAR correctly points that Tata’s home market is burgeoning for all sectors automotive.
The Germans have already landed which means that the Brits and Italians would do well to get there while brand loyalties remain young amongst a newly wealthy consumer class.
Operating together, Jaguar could give Alfa Romeo the chassis know-how to develop rear-wheel drive sedans (like the one that’s going to replace the ag?d 166). That could mean sharing the XF’s aluminum platform with Alfa – at cost – which would help Jag’s coffers.
But, such a venture would seem to favor Fiat, SpA too heavily, and Jaguar, Ltd too little. Were Tata Motors an honest concern, they will have already been infusing Jaguar with ca$h and hopefully reinvigorating the marque’s overall quality.
Locking bumpers even with niche marque Alfa may only drag singular Jaguar perilously towards mass-market land. That might work for the Indian market, but not in the Western.
Niche brands of the world remain unique! You have only to save your quirks.
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next update @ 12 EST
Volvo For Sale. I’ll Roll With That.
Rolling along.(img: Automobile)
Detroit’s influence on Goteborg has produced mixed results, to be kind.
Good: the Ford-initiated XC90 is not only comfortable, safe, and moderately stylish, it has been a real sales booster for Volvo. The SUV would not have been possible without the Blue Oval’s financial backing. And Ford has re-imaged the marque to appeal to families – i.e. the penultimate soccer mom transport.
Bad: the whole family image thing gets boring even to those who buy with school runs in mind.
The V50’s a flop.
Volvo’s reputation for safety is proving to be as much marketing as substance. IIHS gave the S40 sports sedan a merely “acceptable” rating in a side-impact crash test. This means that the driver dummy would have suffered internal injuries and broken ribs if broadsided by an SUV traveling 40 mph. Same results for the larger S60.
By comparison, the Audi A6 was rated “good” in the same test; drivers and passengers would walk away without serious injury.
Good: the new Volvo C70 hard-top convertible is even better than the last convertible – safer (top pick from IIHS) and more refined. The car looks especially sharp in red.
Bad: few but the party faithful will buy a $40K+ convertible from the soccer-mom car company.
Good: Ford has invested faithfully in its Swedish subsidiary and received a profitable carmaker in return.
Bad: The fiscal magic is losing its shine with weaker M.Y. ’07 sales in the U.S.
In sum, it’s been fun (sort of) but Volvo’s ready to roll on down the road.
Sources: [IIHS, Consumer Reports, Financial Times, Morgan & Co.]
