By Brendan Moore
07.27.2009
Jaguar Land Rover’s core unit, the British operations of the company, has reported a loss in 2008.
The Financial Times reports that Tata Motors of India, Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, has been guaranteed a bridge loan from the British government. Government officials and Tata executives have been discussing short-term financing options for the struggling UK business unit.
The Financial Times article stated that the government was offering Tata a 175 million pound commercial bridge loan with a six-month term. The terms of the offered loan also call for the British government to be given a seat on the board of the company.
Tata is holding out for a twelve-month term, and no board representation.
Jaguar Land Rover dived to a 673.4 million pounds ($1.11 billion USD) loss for 2008, falling from a 2007 profit of 641.5 million pounds in 2007.
2009 figures look equally bleak for the company, with a posted 306 million pound loss so far in fiscal 2009. The global recession has hit Jaguar Land Rover particularly hard among luxury makes.
In other news, Tata Motors Ltd, the Indian truck maker and parent company of Jaguar Land Rover, posted an unexpected profit for last quarter through an accounting change. The results do not include Jaguar Land Rover’s financial results.
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My expectations for the new GTI were mixed. I wanted it to be a better successor, one worthy to replace the MkV GTI which convincingly reclaimed the throne to being the benchmark hot hatch. Yet, I didn’t want it to be a complete walkover to the previous car, letting people forget that the MkV GTI was the one that revived the GTI nameplate again. There is a bit of personal bias here – I own the MkV GTI, so naturally I wouldn’t like seeing my car being pushed to the back rows of the shopping shelf. So let’s see what VW has got here – is it a MkV GTI in a new skin? Well, not quite.
The Russian automaker GAZ has been struggling lately, victim of an almost 50% drop in vehicle sales in its home market. The Russian market as a whole has dropped almost 60% in 2009.
The Cube is Nissan’s entry in the US car market’s expanding small-box segment. Joining the Scion xB and the Kia Soul, our new-for-2009 Cube is actually the second-generation of that boxy vehicle; the first generation was sold only in Japan. This second-generation vehicle stays faithful to the original’s cartoony-style shapes, asymmetrical rear styling, and lounge atmosphere. Looking like it fell right off of a Tokyo street, the Cube is a stylish vehicle which is interesting to look at from many different angles.
Ford Motor Co. is expected to show another loss when it reports its quarterly figures today. The forecast loss would be the fifth quarterly loss in a row, but it is expected that Ford will also report a lower cash burn.
The ink has just about dried on the paper – Audi will build an A5 Sportback, and BMW will start selling the 5-Series Gran Turismo very soon. In this very puzzling world, we now witness the hybridization of virtually every form of conventional car design. While we used to be content with a four-door saloon, or a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), or a coupe, consumers are now taking up coupe SUVs (X6, anyone?) and four-door coupes. We simply aren’t satisfied with convention anymore, and in times like this where bolder is probably better, car manufacturers are going all out to capitalise on capturing a market that is hungry for something new.
