Not being funny but I'm sure that some of you have perhaps too much of an Indian perspective on this, and maybe not enough of a European angle?
You see let's deal with the White Elephant thing. Land Rover is not a white Elephant, study their sales figures and profits. They are up and have been going up for sometime. People in Europe see them as the most prestigious 4x4 brand in the world. We can't get enough. Which is why Land Rover is planning to add a SIXTH SUV to the line up! In fact they are the only Ford brand with positive sales growth in every key market!
Now let's deal with Jaguar. aguar is currently outselling Lexus in Europe and Jaguar was actually more sucessfull before Ford took over. They made a few Luxury cars for a lot of money. The Jaguar XJ was the class leader in terms of sales before Ford took over! So what went wrong? Ford improved reliabilty to match Lexus. Quality is up, but style went out the window and the engines weren't powerfull enough. People still love the brand but Ford made Jag make the wrong cars. It was a bit like trying to sell Ricshaws to the English. Have you seen an S type? And what were Ford thinking with the Ford Mondeo X type? But things are turning around at Jag. The new XK is a winner and the new XF is getting rave reviews. Jag is close to being fixed. They could be a hidden bargain! Ford undervalues them.
As for high Labour costs in the UK you are correct! But the problem is not in production of the cars, it's in the supply. No one in Britain cares where the parts come from, so long as production stays here.
Then there is the Rover brand. TATA need to be carefull here. Rover is a tarnished brand. On the one hand everyone knows and trusts it in Europe but some of the latter cars were seen as being a bit of an old mans cars. It was also a brand which Rover lover's were loyal too. But to fully exploit it TATA must make a Passat sized car and ideally use hybrid technology. A small car will be fine too but really the big car is a must. Some kind of exciting designs would be usefull. It is prefferable to use the Rover brand though. It takes at least 10 years to get established here otherwise.
If TATA get it right, they will access a very talented team of engineers at JLR who could help make TATA the next Ford. But they must treat JLR wth respect and not wheel out any old tat.
As for Indian ownership being a problem, forget it. When Rover engineers went to work with TATA on the CityRover they reported back to HQ that they got on well with the people there. They also said they preffered the people at TATA to the people at BMW! Indian investment in Britain and vica versa is strong because both counteries have some shared values and history. After all we both like curry and cricket don't we? Quote:
Originally Posted by itwasntme I am sure (that after 5 years) the headlines will (approvingly) mention that Tata has moved most of the production lines to cheaper countries (may NOT be India mind you!) and will probably make a profit out of it/correct thing to do etc.
ItWasntMe |
It won't pay to move the production lines abroad because volumes are too high. It will pay to move component manufacturing. The cost's of assembling cars are actually low. It's all the parts and shipping thats pricey. To be honest I have a bit of inside info on all this and can confirm that the plan is to increase production in the UK and expand the range so that all 3 UK plant's run at capacity. Once this is achieved they all become very profitable! Remember TATA are thinking big and also have plans for Rover! |