In March 2008 Ford sold Land Rover and Jaguar to Tata, an Indian company, for a knockdown £2.3billion. Whilst Tata expects to continue production of the current range of Land Rovers, including the Defender, Discovery, Range Rover and Freelander, they have advanced plans for several new vehicles, including a lower end of the market Land Rover which should appeal to a broader cross section of buyers. Included in the plans is the extension of sales of Jaguar and Land Rover to include India, where these vehicles have not been sold in the past.
Land Rover cut production at Solihull. Due to the economic downturn, it has sadly been announced that Land Rover is to cut back on its current production levels. Worldwide car sales are said to be 21% down. Land Rover have been particularily hard hit, principally by two factors - the awful credit crunch and the recent hike in fuel prices. The latter has sent out shockwaves to potential Land Rover customers and many have been lost to rival companies who produce not only smaller but also more economical and practical vehicles, such as Nissan with the Nissan Qashqai. Registrations of new Land Rovers in the UK for September 2008 were down by a whopping 50% compared with sales in September 2007.
The cut backs will affect the production of the Range Rover and also Freelander which is made at the Ford plant at Halewood. There are no plans at present to reduce production of the Defender or Discovery. Land Rover are not the only car manufacturer forced to make cut backs because of the financial economic black hole that we seem to be rapidly sliding into.
The other car brand, Jaguar Cars, which was acquired by Tata at the same time as Land Rover in March of this year, is also slowing its assembly line. They are not unique, as Bentley, Honda, Ford and Toyota have all announced similar production reductions. None of the car manufacturers are expected to shed jobs, at the present time anyway, just reduce shift working hours until the economic situation improves.
Happily, it is good to hear that it is not all doom and gloom. Nissan, due to an unprecidented upturn in demand, have surprisingly stepped up production of the very popular Qashqai sport utility model at their Sunderland plant in the north east of England. How far behind is Land Rover in coming up with a serious competitor to rival the Qashqai?
The information on this website is derived from my own knowledge base and experiences as encountered over several years of dealing in Land Rovers. If there are any mistakes or errors, I apologise. I will add more information as and when I get time.
