Archive for February, 2009
Press Report : SMC Rover in High Wycombe to close on Saturday
Alex Hayes, This Is Local London, 26th February, 2009 A landmark High Wycombe garage will close its doors for the final time on Saturday. The SMC MG Rover garage is closing because the lease has expired on its London Road base, where there has been a garage since 1947. Now 20 members of staff face the [...]
February 27, 2009
· 
Clive Goldthorp · 
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Press Report : Jaguar Land Rover pay-freeze vote next week
RAC News, 26th February, 2009 A proposed one-year pay freeze and four-day week at Tata-owned car giant Jaguar Land Rover are to be put to the vote next week. The company’s 15,000 workers will decide whether to accept the two-year deal in exchange for no more compulsory job losses. The deal, aimed at saving £70 [...]
February 27, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : Czech army to buy Land Rovers for foreign missions
Prague Daily Monitor/Czech News Agency(CTK), 27th February, 2009 The Czech military wants to purchase another 79 Land Rover Defender off-road utility vehicles by the end of November, First Deputy Defence Minister Martin Bartak told members of the Chamber of Deputies defence committee today, adding that the purchase would cost 384 million crowns. The vehicles will [...]
February 27, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
China Watch : SAIC aims to sell 60,000 Roewe, MG cars in '09
George Gao, Shanghai, Gasgoo.com, 24th February, 2009 In its effort to cut costs, Chinese auto giant SAIC is merging the sales networks of its Roewe and MG brands and aims to sell 60,000 Roewe and MG cars this year, up 67% from their sales in 2008, said sina.com today. In 2009, SAIC will launch two [...]
February 27, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
China Watch : China to pay $615m for Jaguar, Land Rover cars
Gasgoo.com, Shanghai, 26th February, 2009 Chinese firms will agree to pay a combined $615 million for 3,000 Jaguar and 6,000 Land Rover automobiles during a government-led trip to the U.K., the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the situation. The trip, headed by Minister of Commerce Chen Deming and including some [...]
February 27, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : LDV bidder would shift production abroad
Jonathan Guthrie in Birmingham, Financial Times, 27th February, 2009 LDV, the troubled Birmingham vanmaker that is seeking government aid, said on Friday that an unnamed bidder had proposed to buy its assets and shift production to a low-cost centre abroad. Such a sell-off by GAZ, LDV’s Russian owner, would see thousands of job losses in [...]
February 27, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Sad times
Keith Adams So, it looks like it could be the end for LDV and I, for one, can’t help but feel that these are increasingly looking like desperate times for the automotive industry in the UK. I suppose that cash-strapped vehicle makers looking after their bottom lines are always going to close overseas operations (just [...]
February 24, 2009
· Keith Adams · 15 Comments
Press Report : Managers seek LDV vans buyout
Jonathan Guthrie, Financial Times, 23rd February, 2009 A management team hopes to buy LDV, the troubled Birmingham vanmaker that ceased production in December. It is seeking a bridging loan from the government for an unspecified sum to complete the transaction. LDV employs 850 people in manufacturing and a further 1,200 staff in its dealer network. [...]
February 24, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : To ditch a car subsidiary is new vogue
John Reed in Detroit, Financial Times, 24th February, 2009 Worldwide, people defaulting on mortgages are leaving homes behind. In the car industry, manufacturers are cutting their losses and ditching subsidiaries. Cash-strapped owners of overseas marques are turning to their host governments with politically charged pleas for public funds. Write us a cheque, they say in [...]
February 24, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Press Report : JLR workers to hold pay ballot
Michael Kavanagh, Financial Times, 24th February, 2009 Workers at Jaguar Land Rover will hold a ballot on a deal aimed at avoiding compulsory job losses for two years in exchange for a one-year pay freeze, increased pension contributions and a four-day week. The company, which in January announced the shedding of 450 managerial and salaried [...]
February 24, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Snow fun… or ’sno fun?
Prendergast Sweedlepipe Keith’s blog about Britain being frightened of snow struck a chord with me. Time was when I used to go out in snow just for the fun of it. An empty snow-covered car park was just the place to practice at being Paddy Hopkirk, with handbrake turns and reverse flicks. If anyone objected, [...]
February 17, 2009
· Keith Adams · 6 Comments
Press Report : BMW sheds 850 jobs at MINI
Philip Stafford, Financial Times, 16th February, 2009 BMW confirmed on Monday that 850 jobs will be cut and operating times shortened at its Mini manufacturing plant at Cowley in Oxfordshire in response to the global economic recession. As of 2 March, the plant, which employs 4700, will move to a shift pattern of three days [...]
February 16, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
Welcome back to Britain…
Keith Adams So, after ten days in Egypt covering the Nile Trial, where the temperature refused to dip below 25 degrees, I step off a plane at Heathrow only to be chilled to the bone. And I was disappointed – not because of the coldness, but because all the lovely snow which fell in my absence seemed [...]
February 13, 2009
· Keith Adams · 3 Comments
The cars roll in…
Keith Adams Last night, the competitors’ cars on the Nile Trial 2009 rolled in to Giza. And what a sight they made after the organized chaos of the roads I experienced yesterday in Cairo. The drivers on the event have already been through an adventure getting here, driving through France to get to Marseilles to [...]
February 5, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
British Leyland in The Times : Part Two
Ian Nicholls Some time ago I wrote a blog detailing how I was using The Times Online archive service to research the history of British Leyland from 1968 to 1985. I have now extended my research back to 1959. By going back to 1959, I was able to examine some of the major news stories as [...]
February 4, 2009
· Keith Adams · 9 Comments
What an ace experience…
Keith Adams I sit here writing this from a hotel balcony in Gisa, Egypt with a view overlooking two of the pyramids. It’s warm and balmy, with the temperature sure to rise from it’s current 22 degrees. I can hear the birds twittering, the background roar of traffic chaos and general city life… and I [...]
February 4, 2009
· Keith Adams · One Comment
Our cars : Project Tomcat
Update: 1 February 2009 The Tomcat is now on the road. Rather like getting a chocolate gateaux out of the freezer, and having to endure the agonizing defrost period before being able to eat the thing, I decided to wait until the beginning of February before taxing my new toy. So, it wasn’t until a [...]
February 1, 2009
· Keith Adams · No Comments
Car of the month : February 2009
Graham Eason runs a classic car hire business called Great Escapes, and one of his fleet is this magnificent 1974 Jaguar XJ6 4.2 in long wheelbase form. As you can see, it’s a beautiful example, wonderfully photographed, too. It’s obviously a car that Graham has a lot of respect and time for, having blogged about [...]
February 1, 2009
· Keith Adams · One Comment
India Watch : Sales slump takes toll on India carmakers
James Fontanella-Khan in Mumbai and Amy Kazmin in New Delhi FT.com, 30th January, 2009 India’s two largest carmakers were hard hit by plunging car sales in the last quarter of 2008, with Tata Motors reporting a Rs2.6bn ($53.2m) loss, its first quarterly loss in seven years, and down from a Rs4.9bn profit a year ago. [...]
February 1, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
India Watch : India’s Tata Motors losses $54m in quarter
International Herald Tribune/Associated Press, 30th January, 2009 MUMBAI, India – Tata Motors lost 2.63bn rupees ($54 million) last quarter as cost-cutting efforts failed to make up for withering demand, high commodities prices and foreign exchange losses, company officials said Friday. A year earlier, the company posted a quarterly profit of 4.99bn rupees. “I do believe [...]
February 1, 2009
· Andrew McCheyne · No Comments
