Archive for January, 2009
Blog : Grr…
Keith Adams As you know, Britain is a dark and dingey country in the depths of winter – the sun comes up late, sets early, and most of us nine-to-fivers travel to and from work in what is effectively the middle of the night. Yesterday morning was especially unpleasant – overcast and foggy – and, [...]
January 30, 2009
· 
Keith Adams · 
37 Comments
Press Report : UK offers loan guarantees for carmakers
John Willman, Business Editor, Financial Times, 27th January, 2009 Peter Mandelson, Business Secretary, has unveiled a package of measures to help Britain’s embattled car industry, by offering financial support for the development of low carbon vehicles with new loan guarantees. The announcement outlined a new guarantee scheme to back £1.3bn of loans from the European [...]
January 28, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Less is more…
Keith Adams Thanks to the thinning out of my fleet and the general up-in-the-air nature of my life right now, I found myself in need of a set of wheels for a job at work last week. There’s nothing unusal in that, of course, as I’m always jumping in one strange car or another – [...]
January 25, 2009
· Keith Adams · 8 Comments
Press Report : MG name stands proud again at Longbridge
John Revill, Automotive News Europe, 21st January, 2009 The company that runs the remnants of former UK automaker MG Rover has dropped a reference to its Chinese parent from its name. NAC MG UK has changed its name to MG Motor UK to emphasize the MG name, a company spokesman said. Nanjing Automobile Company or [...]
January 22, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Press Report : Tata cash crisis adds to JLR woes
Bill Condie, Evening Standard, 12th January, 2009 Tata Motors faces a debt crunch with a $3bn (£1.98bn) loan due that will add new intensity to its bid for a UK taxpayer injection for its Jaguar Land Rover division. The Indian carmaker needs to raise cash by June to repay a bridge loan taken to fund [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar Land Rover cuts 450 UK jobs
John Willman, Business Editor, FT.com, 14th January, 2009 Jaguar Land Rover is cutting 450 white-collar jobs in its UK operation, as the economic downturn continues to hit sales at the Indian-owned manufacturer. The company, which only resumed production this week after a three-week Christmas break, will cut 300 management positions and a further 150 salaried [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : BMW slams state aid for carmakers
John Reed, FT.com, 12th January, 2009 BMW on Monday lambasted the state aid offered to carmakers in the US and Europe, saying that it “distorted competition” in the industry and that it should be offered to more companies. The warning by the world’s largest luxury carmaker comes as Canada, Sweden, Germany and other countries follow [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · 3 Comments
Press Report : 1800 jobs under threat at Jaguar Land Rover
Birmingham Mail, 17th January, 2009 Up to 1800 production jobs are under threat at Jaguar Land Rover if workers do not agree to a pay freeze and a major new round of cutbacks, it was revealed today. Workers at the crisis-hit group have been told shifts will have to be cut further and pay frozen [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Employees have their say on Rover-Honda collaboration
John Cranage, Birmingham Post, 19th January, 2009 The story of what happened when Rover and Honda began an unprecedented collaboration in 1979 is told in the words of former employees in a new book. The partnership, which resulted in cars such as the Rover 200, 400 and 600, was one of the most ambitious and [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar Land Rover workers have two weeks to decide on pay freeze
Birmingham Mail, 19th January, 2009 Jaguar Land Rover workers have been given just two weeks to decide whether to accept a pay freeze and other cutbacks – or risk the loss of up to 1800 jobs. Sources said unions at JLR have been given a fortnight to digest demands for more job cuts and cutbacks [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Work suspended at Jaguar factory
BBC News, 19th January, 2009 Jaguar Land Rover has announced it has halted work at its car plant in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, for two weeks. The factory assembles all the Jaguar XF, XJ and XK models, and currently employs about 3500 workers. Workers only returned to the company’s Solihull site on Monday after an extended [...]
January 21, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Welcome to the fold…
Keith Adams Well, as you can see, I’ve already broken my New Year’s resolutions by adding new R8 shaped metal to my fleet. Having said that, there’s method in my madness – the Rover 827 Sterling and my old Saab 9000 Aero have made way and, as soon as we get into February (when people [...]
January 21, 2009
· Keith Adams · 2 Comments
Our cars : Project Tomcat
Part one It started with an email from one of our readers – he wanted to find a new home for his Tomcat Turbo, and couldn’t face selling it to the boy racer brigade. Could AROnline come to the rescue? Could we indeed… Keith Adams tells the story of his latest project acquisition and hopes [...]
January 20, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
China Watch : SsangYong files for receivership
Keith Adams SsangYong filed for court receivership last Friday in an attempt to avoid going completely under, as well as to buy time to formulate a rescue package. The company was forced to take this drastic move following 51 per cent stakeholder, SAIC Motor’s, decision to give up its management rights over the company. The [...]
January 11, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Press Report : Birmingham Post’s campaign to support Jaguar Land Rover
Marc Reeves, Editor, Birmingham Post, 6th January, 2009 The Birmingham Post today launches one of the most important campaigns in its history – to urge the government to acknowledge that the UK automotive industry not only needs, but deserves its financial support. At the centre of the campaign is Jaguar Land Rover, the Indian-owned inheritor [...]
January 11, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Jaguar proves its value with annual sales boost
Alun Thorne, Birmingham Post, 7th January, 2009 Booming annual car sales figures for Jaguar will put further pressure on the government not to let the successful company fail. Sources close to the luxury marque are predicting that Jaguar sales will be up 10 per cent year on year compared to a 10 per cent fall [...]
January 11, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Citigroup steps in to help Tata
Dominic O’Connell, The Sunday Times, 11th January, 2009 INDIA’s Tata has recruited the American bank Citigroup to advise it in its talks with the government over state assistance for Jaguar Land Rover, the carmaker. Discussions between officials and advisers on both sides are expected to resume this week, as Tata seeks a short-term bridging loan [...]
January 11, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Government will do “whatever it can to support Jaguar Land Rover”
David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post, 8th January, 2009 THE Government will do “whatever it can to support Jaguar Land Rover”, the Chancellor said this morning, as some of his policies were branded “absurd” by a Liverpool business leader. Speaking at a business breakfast at the Malmaison hotel, Alistair Darling said the car industry, Jaguar and [...]
January 11, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
A year in the life of…
Richard Truett It’s been about a year since my rare USA spec 1990 Rover Sterling 827 Fastback returned to active duty. It has been a year of driving that reminded me that, if some BL/Rover products require a little more care than other brands of vehicles, at least you get paid back by driving a [...]
January 11, 2009
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
It’s waft-tastic
Keith Adams I’ve been enjoying life in the slow(er) lane behind the wheel of Rover’s 1990s flagship, the Sterling. It’s a breed of car I’ve endured a long love/hate relationship with – love, because that Honda V6 really is a nice piece of engineering to sit behind and that interior is warm and welcoming. Hate, [...]
January 9, 2009
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
