Author: Robin Brown
Published: 25 November 2008
Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover is understood to be seeking an emergency £1bn loan as sales continue to fall.
While Jaguar sales have been boosted by the well-received XF sports saloon, Land Rover has seen sales collapse over 2008 due to high fuel prices, punitive tax increases and the effect of the global financial crisis.
Jaguar Land Rover CEO David Smith appeared to suggest that the government might be called on to help the UK's automotive industry when he met Prime Minister Gordon Brown in October, but JLR has not confirmed or denied the reports.
Land Rover sales are down by nearly 27 per cent over 2008 and by nearly 60 per cent in October in the UK alone, and foreign sales have been hit even harder.
Owner Tata Motors bought both marques from Ford in March for £1.7bn.
The British car industry: Who owns who; what names might return; and whatever happened to Austin, Rover and Morris?
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Aston Martin has unveiled the new DBS which will be driven by James Bond, the legendary British secret agent, in the next 007 film, “CASINO ROYALE”.
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BMW has released images of the new BMW Concept 5-series Gran Turismo, a taller, roomier 5-Series that is part-limo, part-SUV, part-saloon.
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Rolls-Royce has announced 2009 revisions for the Phantom and Phantom Extended Wheelbase, comprising a set of subtle styling tweaks.
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Euro Car Parts has acquired Pinco 1555 Ltd, including all 53 of LSUK's 53 branches, together with subsidiaries M I Diesel Products, Protech Automotive (UK) and Yeovil Rewind.
Fuel protests similar to those that brought the UK to a halt in 2000 are being planned by a breakaway group of disaffected hauliers, according to press reports.
Euro Car Parts has put out a statement on the closure of LSUK, stating that a closure of the business was unavoidable due to a 'lack of support'.
LSUK, thought to have been rescused by Euro Car Parts, has been unexpectedly closed by the new owners with the loss of over 600 jobs.
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