Jaguar Land Rover Asks For Over $1.2 Billion in Government Aide

Jaguar Land Rover has asked for a support package worth in excess of £1 billion ($1.2 billion) from the British government.

The car manufacturer has felt the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and is engaged in talks with the Department for Business, Energy and Industry strategy for the loan.

In a statement issued to The Guardian, JLR said it was “in regular discussion with government on a whole range of matters and the content of our private discussions remains confidential.” However, the automaker banished claims that it is seeking upwards of £2 billion ($2.4 billion).

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MDarringer - 5/25/2020 10:53:15 AM

+1 Boost

Tata has grossly mismanaged JLR.

They stupidly tried to take Jaguar upmarket to improve profit, but sales flagged and profits lagged.

Then Ian Callum designed cars with ZERO Jaguar DNA that were dull to ugly with the worst offense being the stylistic crucifixion of the XJ. That bastard should have been fired the second he proposed his Merkur Scorpio homage.

Then there are the Land Rovers that overlap with Range Rovers and the Range Rovers that overlap with Land Rovers. Utterly stupid.

Beyond that, there has been no attention to reliability.

Jaguar needs to axe the XE/XF/current and next XJ and build the Bertone B99 for $50K. The F Type needs to be priced where the C7 Corvette left off. It should come standard with a V8 again at the magic $50K for a base.

That won't happen of course because Jaguar is sales phobic.

Moo1 - 5/27/2020 8:57:28 AM

+1 Boost

They were a hot mess before CV happened.

MDarringer - 5/27/2020 9:14:06 AM

+1 Boost

If you believe the bullshit that so many think is true of JLR and Volvo that their deep-pockets owners write checks and let them do their thing, then in both cases--but to a much greater extent with JLR--then that management is inept.

It's probably time to fold Jaguar. It's far less compelling than Genesis at this point. With LR/RR they decided to ride the "if they like crossovers then give them every permutation possible" path which is a great short-term strategy if you're a big company like Toyota, but all they succeeded in doing is trashing the prestige of Range by taking it down market with the Eunoch and Velour and then trashing the ruggedness of Land Rover by making mommy wagons.

Land Rover is dead if the Defender is their idea if their brand identity. The Defender should have emerged as a Wrangler in size, price, and capability rather than being a mommy wagon with a formerly proud name on it.