Jaguar World Magazine XKR SUPER GUIDE. December 2010 Back Issue

It was in the November 2009 issue
of JWM that, in this column, I discussed Jaguar
Land Rover’s then newly announced business
plan and the fact that the media at large
had generally ignored its overriding positive
message. Ambitious plans for model expansion
and further investment in future technology
were largely skipped over in favour of focusing
on the aim to consolidate JLR’s West Midlands
manufacturing base from two plants to one
by 2015.
Yes, of course, the potential closure of either
Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich or Land Rover’s
Solihull plants was big news, but JLR always
maintained its new business plan was one of
growth, not reduction, and that there would be
no compulsory redundancies. Nevertheless, the
doom-mongers concentrated on the potential
factory closure but now, 12-months on, there
has been a remarkable turnaround.
Following the success of Jaguar and Land
Rover’s product lines in the intervening period
(latest figures show overall JLR
sales for April-September
2010 to be 40 per cent up
on the same period in
2009), and successful
negotiations with trade
unions over pay and
working conditions,
the future of both Castle
Bromwich and Solihull is
assured. Not only that, workers
will be guaranteed at least an eight
per cent pay rise over the next 12-months.
That’s not just a good Jaguar story, or even a
good Jaguar Land Rover story, it’s a good story
for the UK’s manufacturing industry as a whole
and an endorsement of Tata’s vision for the two
brands that it acquired back in June 2008, just
as the world economy was beginning to slow.
With sales now buoyant, the indications
are that more is to come soon from both
brands, JLR CEO, Dr Ralf Speth stating on
the announcement of the company’s revision
of its manufacturing consolidation aims that:
“We have ambitious plans for growth and the
success of our products around the world and
this agreement will allow us to accelerate and
realise those plans.”