How Jaguar Land Rover roared back into profit
Aug 13 2010 by Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail
THE mood in the audience at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre was as cold as the icy winter weather outside – as the grim reality facing Jaguar Land Rover became all too clear.
It was February 3, 2009, and the then JLR chief executive, David Smith, pulled no punches in telling the audience: “In 25 years in the car industry, I have never experienced a time quite like this.
“Banks aren’t lending and consumers aren’t spending. Someone has to put oil back in the engine.
“We have suppliers going into bankruptcy every one or two days.”
Unite joint leader Tony Woodley said JLR needed half a billion pounds immediately.
“We need action now, otherwise we will not be able to survive this.”
Professor David Bailey, of Birmingham Business School, said: “We are facing an unprecedented situation. Without further action, we will see another 30,000 to 40,000 job losses.”
The apocalyptic vision of Smith, Woodley and Bailey was underlined within weeks – as JLR announced a £280 million loss for the 10 months to March 31, 2009, the first period of Tata’s ownership.
By June of last year, the heavy losses brought a further bleak message from Ravi Kant, vice-chairman of Tata Motors, who said: “There has already been 2,000 job losses. We may be looking at more job losses, and more plant shutdowns.”
By the time of Mr Kant’s warning, unions had agreed a pay freeze and a concession over working hours to save up to £70 million.
But the union compromise wasn’t enough to stem the flow of bad news from JLR. In September last year the company announced plans to close either the Land Rover plant at Solihull or Jaguar at Castle Bromwich.
