Yannis

Nine lives and counting

The Jaguar XK is more than just a new model, it carries the future of the British brand on its shoulders, reports Drive's European correspondent GREG KABLE.

Cape Town, South Africa. Half a world away from Jaguar's spiritual home of Coventry, England - at the launch of the sleek new XK coupe and convertible - the bright sunshine belies the dire situation facing one of the most famous names in the motoring world.

After years of misguided management and inefficient operations, Jaguar finds itself once again fighting for survival. This time, however, the threat is more serious than ever before.

When Ford bought Jaguar in 1989, it thought it was buying a brand that would be able to provide a steady supply of high-profit luxury vehicles. Instead, it has merely made more cars for less profit.

Which is why Ford boss, William Clay Ford Jr, recently cut to the chase. Out of patience with the millions Ford is spending to keep Jaguar afloat, he told journalists in Detroit that Jaguar must "find a way to fund its own future or face the consequences". After all, Ford has its own financial mess and factory closures to worry about.

With sales of the Jaguar X-Type, S-Type and XJ failing to live up to expectations placed upon them by a bullish management intent on competing with Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, the Big Cat, as it's affectionately known, is running out of lives.

When asked what will happen if Jaguar's latest turnaround plan doesn't work, a high ranking Ford director told Drive at January's Detroit motor show it may have to consider placing the company into "exit mode".

In other words, Ford may be forced to either close down Jaguar completely or sell it to the highest bidder. Rumours have surfaced recently that Nissan-Renault is interested in taking Jaguar off Ford's hands (Jaguar would sit well in the Nissan-Renault portfolio as the French and Japanese brands don't have high-end luxury vehicles) but all parties have strenuously denied these reports.

If any car company knows how to fight back from adversity, though, it is Jaguar. It has, after all, been playing catch-up for the best part of four decades now. This fighting spirit - some might call it British pride - is ingrained throughout the company's operations.

Ever since it decided to shift emphasis from sleek sports cars to high-end luxury sedans at the end of the 1960s, Jaguar has been striving to keep pace with its rivals.

Lewis Booth, recently appointed Ford of Europe chairman, is pinning Jaguar's hopes on a round of internal restructuring, key management appointments, a new corporate identity, cost savings brought about by the controversial closure of its traditional factory at Brown's Lane in Coventry (and, some would say, it's spiritual home) and, of course, the high-profile and high-profit XK coupe and convertible...

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Centurion

I think that the cat needs a new home. Ford isn't taking care of Jaguar. During the 90s Ford was along with MB the two strongest luxury car brands out there but today the thought of many people buying a Jaguar is fading. I bet that the conservatie people weren't exactly thrilled when Jag presented the X-type estate. Jaguar is the symbol of aristocracy and for them estate cars are for people who need do their own physical work, and those type of people are usually not that wealthy.

I have read that Jaguar are working on a new S-type and hopefully it will be out soon and bring about some more dough for the poor little cat.

Deutsch

I don't know what Ford was thinking when it purchased Jaguar to begin w/? Ford in itself knows nothing about what it is to play in the field w/ the Germans in making top tier luxury cars. Jaguar afterall is a british brand, and must mantian that identity, which was/is somewhat lost in the S type. Identity and brand is key in developing sucessful product. Sad enough, if Ford were to sell Jaguar, I really dont know who'd buy it? The reason why Aston Martin is sucessful is because they lucked out when the got Porsche's ex #1. I wish Volvo would sever it's ties w/ ford and take Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin along w/ it and creat its' own conglomerate incorporating Volvo Group(trucks, etc.) - I LOVE Volvo if you didn't know that already.

donau

I think Jaguar needs tro find a new home too. It seems like there's companies that can make other brands successes and then there are companies that just can't do it. Daimler Benz has a poor history in that regard and looks like Ford may not be any better than Daimler Benz was.

Hypersonic

I'm intrigued about that - which companies did Daimler-Benz buy?

The BMW/Rover "thing" was a disaster too - amazing that anybody actually wanted to buy Rover in the first place.

The Artist

i really dont care for jaguar..so i dont care what happens to them

donau

They owned Auto Union, I'd have to check on the exact years, and they did not know really what to do with the little two-stroke DKW, which then became the Auto Union "Donau", and back to DKW F-series cars. They ended up selling Auto Union to VW.
The other company I had in mind was Studebaker-Packard and it wasn't an actual purchase of the company but initially (1957) a distribution agreement with DB and around 1964 they (Studebaker) sold their interests to DB I think the last Studebaker was built in 1966. The point with Studebaker that I had was that DB handling of the affairs of another company helped speed up it's demise. At least that's the way it looks to me. But since I know that you are very knowledgeable about these issues, feel free to correct me if I have misrepresented something due to poor memory. The Auto Union deal was a straight forward "they just did not know what to do with it" and the Studebaker-Packard deal was more of a bad business association kind of a thing where DB seems like they had the opposite of a "Midas Touch" in that arrangement and Studebaker and Packard ended up in the history books.

In 1959 DB was about to "rescue" BMW, but fortunately for everyone that did not happen due to the Quandts who had a sizeable stake in DB, decided to divest in DB and buy BMW instead.

Giannis

well, i care, not only because Jaguar plays a major role in the world automotive industry, but because they make nice cars too! Don't tell me you don't like the new XJ?

Hypersonic

I have never been a Jaguar fan, but it is an old company with a great history, I hope they can regain some of their former glory .............but I probaly still will never want to own one.

450SEL6.9

I've never loved Jaguar, but I hope they survive. They've a great racing heritage and produced some of the prettiest cars ever built. Of course, they were British and was afflicted by reliability issues. Still, the first series E-Type Fixed Head Coupe is probably the most beautiful car ever in the eyes of many. I think it'll take a new E-Type to pull them through.

Luwalira, why do you think the estate car was a bad idea? Many aristocrats including the royal family own estates or shooting brakes. Several coachbuilders converted Mercedes W116, Rolls-Royces and many other luxury cars into estates. Having said that, I too don't really like the Jaguar estate car. It came out of nowhere, really. If anything, I think they should've started with an X-Type fastback instead and built something like the Rover SD1.