Jag boss comes out fighting

Oct 6 2008 Bill McCarthy

Jag boss comes out fighting

THE top man at Jaguar and Land Rover has delivered a cautiously upbeat message to staff and pledged to do all he can to protect their jobs.

Speaking at the Paris Motor Show, where the company was celebrating the 60th anniversary of the XK model, David Smith, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, said the company's future was bright, but the Bank of England needed to act immediately and cut interest rates to stave off a deep recession.

He acknowledged the the current economic difficulties, but said workers shoud "grasp the opportunities" that will be created in the future.

Around 17,000 workers are employed by JLR at its factories in the Midlands and on Merseyside.

He said that despite cutbacks in production JLR plants at Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood, the company was continuing to invest in the future with a new models and big investment in greener technology.

Mr Smith said an illustration of that commitment was the fact that currently more 2,000 workers were undergoing training programmes and that parent company Tata was determined to continue with strong backing for the company's plans

Speaking at the Paris show the JLR boss was in determined mood.

"I cannot guarantee there would be no redundancies, but the workforce are realisitic and understand the global problems the company face.

"The unions at JLR have responded in a positive way to the necessary action we have had to take," he said.

Mr Smith said sales were down as they were with all car makers globally, but added:

"Despite losing sales in North Amercia, we are doing well in emerging markets like Russia and China and are well placed to take advantage when the economy picks up."

Mr Smith called on the Bank of England to immediately lop half a per cent off interest rates to stop the economy sliding into deep recession, with at least the same again shortly afterwards and the action was needed urgently.

He also backed the decision by the Amercian government to pump billions of dollars into the US economy to shore up the banking system and said concerted action was also needed across Europe to stabilise the economies.

Mr Smith said that despite economic conditions he was determined the JLR would not be blown off course.

The new XJ saloon would soon be unveiled with other models in the pipeline and 2009 was also going to be a busy year for Land Rover as it prepared to launch its eco version of the Halewood-built Freelander with stop-start technology.

The XK model was first unveiled in 1948 and quickly became an icon, winning the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race on numerous occasions.

The latest version of the model, the XKR-S was one of the stars at the show and is the first car in a new generation of Jags.