Archive for December, 2008
New Year’s resolutions…
Keith Adams In many ways, 2008 was a very rubbish year… and, in just as many, it was the best one yet. Good things that happened abound – I found a great job and have driven some amazing cars; I still have my health; and I’m (just about) solvent. So, there should be little to [...]
December 29, 2008
· 
Keith Adams · 
4 Comments
China Watch : SAIC will share platform among 3 brands
Namrita Chow, Automotive News Europe, 22nd December, 2008 SHANGHAI — Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) is developing a new range of small cars that will share resources, parts and platforms across its SsangYong Motors, Roewe and MG brands. A new small sedan and a related crossover will be produced by SsangYong Motors, which is 51 [...]
December 22, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Car-maker failure could threaten pension lifeboat
Philip Aldrick, Daily Telegraph, 22nd December, 2008 Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata, is in talks with the Government about a £500m-£1bn state loan to help it through the downturn, protecting 75,000 jobs, while Vauxhall’s US parent General Motors has been teetering on the edge of collapse. Despite the talks, administration remains a live [...]
December 22, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar bail-out must come ‘in days not weeks’ warns union
Nick Allen and Rupert Neate, Daily Telegraph, 22nd December, 2008 Union leaders are making last ditch pleas to Gordon Brown to help bail out Tata-owned car giant Jaguar Land Rover and safeguard tens of thousands of jobs. They said the Government has “days not weeks” to save the carmaker. Its Indian owner Tata has confirmed [...]
December 22, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Tata pumps millions into Jaguar Land Rover
Rupert Neate, Daily Telegraph, 22nd December, 2008 The Government had said it would not provide the company with state aid until it was satisfied that Tata had done all they could to help the struggling luxury car maker. “The company is resolved to do all it can to help all its businesses” a Tata spokesman [...]
December 22, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Tata to inject ‘tens of milliions’ into Jaguar
Automotive News Europe/Reuters, 22nd December, 2008 SINGAPORE (Reuters) — India’s Tata Motors has agreed to inject “tens of millions” of pounds into Jaguar Land Rover to prevent an immediate cash flow crisis, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The move by Tata, which bought the luxury carmaker earlier this year for $2.3 billion from Ford [...]
December 22, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Why I love the XJ6…
Graham Eason The Jaguar XJ6 Series 2 really is a great and overlooked classic car. A 350 mile round trip I took with my wife to the New Forest a few weeks ago served to prove the point. After a week cocooned in my daily driver (a high mileage Audi A6), I couldn’t face another three [...]
December 21, 2008
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar Land Rover must be allowed to fail
Martin Vander Weyer, Daily Telegraph, 18th December 2008 It’s never easy to guess what’s going on inside Lord Mandelson’s head. On the issue of whether he might be about to offer a £1 billion bail-out to the Jaguar Land Rover group, the thought processes of the Business Secretary are particularly opaque. Jaguar, we can agree, [...]
December 21, 2008
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Merry Christmas everyone!
Keith Adams SHE got your attention – and now let’s get down to the boring bit… The country seems to be winding down in readiness for the Christmas break and, as at office parties across the land people chill out and tell their co-workers exactly what they think of each other, I thought I’d take the opportunity [...]
December 20, 2008
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Press Report : Ratan Tata told to help pay for JLR recovery
Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post, 19th December, 2008 Ministers are demanding the Indian billionaire behind Jaguar Land Rover owners Tata give up some of his personal fortune to save the businesses from collapse. Details of a potential deal to save thousands of the jobs in the West Midlands began to emerge after Business Secretary Peter Mandelson [...]
December 19, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
XPart : AutoService centre technicians train at Longbridge
Parts distribution organisation XPart is offering its AutoService centre network the opportunity to improve its knowledge of K-series engine repairs. Members of XPart’s AutoService centre network are gaining valuable knowledge of K-series engine repairs by attending a new training course. The one-day K-series Engine and Cooling System Service course, held at the NAC MG UK [...]
December 18, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Mandelson puts onus on Tata to solve JLR problems
Birmingham Post, 18th December, 2008 Ministers have held discussions with Jaguar Land Rover over the possibility of state assistance for the car maker, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said. But he stressed that the firm’s Indian owners Tata had “the first responsibility” to ensure its survival and warned that the Government did not have “an [...]
December 18, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Mandy gets set to spend £1bn of taxpayers’ cash to rescue Jaguar
Ray Massey and Michael Lea, Daily Mail, 18th December, 2008 Car production slumped by a third last month as the motor industry was increasingly hit by the economic downturn, new figures showed today. It comes as the government prepares a taxpayer-funded bailout worth up to £1billion to rescue the Indian-owned firm which makes Jaguars and [...]
December 18, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Treasury sets ‘tough’ car bail-out terms
Jean Eaglesham, Chief Political Correspondent, Financial Times, 18th December, 2008 A provisional rescue package being drawn up for Britain’s beleaguered car manufacturers will have “very tough” conditions attached, in part to avoid setting too generous a precedent for other bail-outs, according to government insiders. The Treasury wants to ensure any taxpayer loans or credit guarantees [...]
December 18, 2008
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Daewoo to rebrand with a Griffin?
Andrew Elphick Remember the Daewoo Nexia? The oriental-style Astra/Kadett reworking? Hardly cutting edge; barely automotive nirvana. The thing is though people bought the Nexia, sure they wanted better but when you have lemonade money to fund a champagne lifestyle you adjust accordingly. Its the reason you don’t eat steak seven nights a week. Trouble was [...]
December 18, 2008
· Keith Adams · 12 Comments
Driving the TESLA
Keith Adams Yesterday was one of those weird kind of days. There’s a bit of an end-of-term feeling in the office, thanks to having just finished another issue of Octane, and – well, Christmas is coming and, finally, I’m beginning to get into the swing of things… There was another reason for the odd mood [...]
December 16, 2008
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
Now it’s time for BL
Graham Eason [www.greatescapecars.co.uk] It has become a matter of historical fact that British Leyland was the worst car maker of all time. Princess, Allegro, SD1, Maxi, Maestro, Montego. A catalogue of duffers that makes you embarrassed to be British. Or perhaps not. I’m going to stick my neck out on a limb here but could [...]
December 16, 2008
· Keith Adams · 5 Comments
Press Report : Jaguar to halt production at Castle Bromwich for three weeks at Christmas
John Cranage, Business Editor, Birmingham Post, 16th December, 2008 Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich factory will cease production for three weeks over Christmas and new year as the crisis engulfing the global automotive industry intensifies. The news came amid continuing uncertainty over a possible government bail-out of UK carmakers. Components manufacturer Stadco said it was cutting more [...]
December 16, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Government pledges more support for Jaguar Land Rover
Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Post, 12th December, 2008 Ministers appeared to pave the way for a bail-out of Jaguar Land Rover as they said Britain’s car industry was of “critical national importance” and the government will do more to support it. Business minister Ian Pearson, MP for Dudley South, suggested car manufacturers will not be allowed [...]
December 16, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
Press Report : Government urged to support car industry’s ‘jewel in the crown’ JLR
Birmingham Post, 11th December, 2008 Jaguar Land Rover’s importance to the West Midlands has been spelled out as business minister Lord Mandelson considers a rescue package for the embattled UK car industry. The Indian-owned company is critical for the future of the region, according to Mick Laverty, Chief Executive of Development Agency Advantage West Midlands. [...]
December 16, 2008
· Clive Goldthorp · No Comments
