I dont think too highly of Proton, but they seem to have done much better with Lotus than GM did. Although profitability kind of sucks, as I understand it. I would rather Jaguar/LR be bought out by a large mega-industry like Tata with no conflict of interests than a competitor like, say, BMW/Mercedes.

If it happens, it'll be interesting to see how Jags shape up against Prodrive Astons a decade from now.

The processes and quality standards at Jag was instituted by Ford....that is what has brought them from the dark ages to third in world quality ratings. I agree that Chinese and some near Eastern companies are new to this, but surely they can hire a team to institute said quality programs from the west as opposed to buying a car company to show them how.

May I say (speaking as a Brit that has departed the mother land to take up home in a former colony)



and sad but true.

On the TATA buying JLR, I suspect that it will not be bad for the brand or the product (look at Lotus and Kia (gave us the Elan M100) and more recently Proton where the Elise would not have happened without that partnership, hardly a succession of prestige brands owning and funding) but I suspect that the JLR unions themselves may find that they themselves have made a mistake.

It is rather ironic that all the former colonies and commonwealth countries are now in a position to buy up the top brand name industries and manufacturers of their former overlords.

Indeed, the UK is fast approaching the status of 3rd world

I can't believe the ignorant stupidity on some of these posts.
Don't judge a company by the products they've released in a market in a different part of the world.
In the same way, If Ford or GM wanted to, they could have easily released a technology lead very complicated, crafted vehicle for the American market if they wanted to, but did not- because it would be totally inappropriate and foolish. These kinds of companies totally understand, for instance, what makes say, an S54 BMW engine or a Porsche GT3 engine PHers so admire- as you can bet these are groups of very accomplished engineers stripping these kinds of engines down at at Ford Ressearch labs. It just wouldn't fit the market.

Tata are very very wealthy, they just bought another American company recently (Incat). In the same way, if they wanted to release what ever kind of car they thought they needed to, they could draw upon their rescources or pay consultancies. It's not through lack of ability. They also have honourable business practices. [Quite often, cars such as those from Korea don't have engines developed by themselves at all, but totally developed by consultancies-who only the week before were working on some high technology German project- it's no different here)
The biggest issue could be the same as was faced by BMW with Rover: BMW looked up to Rover too much, probably because of Pischetschrieders ignorance to the Anglo-American top-heavy management style. Therefore they did little to change them and just pumped in more and more cash until it was too late. Despite all the posts from the blind patriots to the contrary- they had the best of intensions. In the same way, Indians sometimes still look up to England and may be tempted to leave alot as is. In a top heavy company, with managers empire building and leeching off like parasites contributing absolutely NOTHING this is folley. The other potential issue could be if they don't understand the market-which in this segment is as much to do with emotion, image and herritage as function. They'll have a much longer term view than any London City Fat cat financial concern.
What they need is an overpaid hatchet man to get rid of the parasites with no agenda. Someone who's worked there before....

Then again fella, you work in the industry, so like me, you've seen it.

Trouble is, the "comics" in the news stands show a very different view to the public. Then again, if you believe and AutoExpress "scoop" you'll believe anything..

Fair point

I personally believe that TATA is what is best for the brand- they have a hugely more diverse market than ford and therefore may be able to do something interesting with the jag- rather than producing high spec mondeos as per the present owner.

At the end of the day people, Jag is going down - there is no other way to explain this they'll be dumped if they don't sell its quite simple. If you have enough money to keep it in the UK please write them a cheque now, otherwise stop whinging and let TATA have a crack at it, they could be a good thing for Jaguar.

TATA produce some fantastic cars for the market in India, I suspect they'll do their homework and try to produce something for the western market. They've got my support.

Oh and before anyone gets on their 'Livid and Ill informed' racial slur bandwagon 'their not British, it's not right' just remember that India is probably more British than we are due to years of colonization and forced industrialization, and being honest they have a better and less obstinate workforce who are happy to do their jobs.. unlike some in the UK. Is it really a wonder than we have no motor industry left any longer?

Fair shout,but dont you feel (its not racist its a british thing)if the indians or chinese own it it will be harder to sell the cars,I am a independant Jaguar dealer in my experiance in retailing used Jaguar (25yrs)it is difficult enogh to sell the "Ford ones" as the punters call them,though we all realise the last of the X300 was a superior car to X308 as traditionalists and enthusiasts liked the 6cyl car,this poor V8 is the reason XK8 are now selling for sub 10k what a car for that money far superior to the XJS based Db7 ,we still are suffering terrible depriciation on early X308 beacause of the engine,what a shame! the rest of the car is fine,s types have now found their own base of customers on spec as people now have accepeted them in their own right, I wont mention the X type/mondeo,its a shame they are not making moneyI am not saying I know the answers but put simply it is the Jaguar name we are talking about I dont see the Indian theme being viable in our showroom we will see.try not to think to much and moralise about the ethics ,we are all entitled to our opinion it is about the customers will they want it and buy it in their thousands? I think not, good luck Jaguar I think you are going to need it.IT CAN BE DONE LOOK AT THE MINI!

GM's problems are that they had an old style uber-generous pension + everything plan for workers. They have recently addressed this through their historic shuffle with their unions....Ford will likely follow siut. The quality of their cars/trucks have not been better. Selling to the Euro-market, no offense, is not paramount to their success. It would be nice, but I beleieve the retooling price to "over-comlplicate" something to sell in Europe would not be worth the expense vs. the gain.

I've misunderstood, perhaps you could clarify:
Sorry, what is the criticism against the Jaguar V8 exactly?
Is it that purely that enthusiasts prefer the old AJ16 to the AJ26/27 or are you inferring that they're unreliable due to Ford some how?
The AJV8 is a solid engine, and whereever the money came from, it was engineered by Jaguar engineers such as myself. The AJ16 was also a fine and almost indestructable engine of course. The AJV6 is also a Jaguar engine, contrary to popular myth, the block is shared with the Ford Duratec (which Porsche engineering had alot of input in), but the valvetrain, crank pistons, - infact most of the engine was designed and engineered at Whitley for Jaguars.
Any issues with the AJV8 are certainly well below par and no way worse than equivalents from BMW or Mercedes etc etc.