Return of Jaguar’s glory days will have Mercs and BMWs on their toes
In nearly 20 years of covering the car industry I’d never heard a chief executive talk about being “entrepreneurial” and “nimble”.
Given the long lead times and oceans of cash involved in bringing new models to market it was hardly suprising.
Yet this is how David Smith of Jaguar Land Rover is talking barely two months after Ford unloaded the business on to Tata Motors of India.
In his first interview since the takeover, he seemed like a man who has had a tremendous weight taken off his shoulders.
A Ford Motor Company veteran at the age of 47, he was diplomatic enough not to criticise his former employer.
But it is plain that he regards JLR as a re-born, rejuvenated business freed from the bureaucratic shackles and time-consuming internal procedures that the business previously endured as part of Ford’s now defunct Premier Automotive Group that reported into both Ford Europe and the group’s HQ at Dearborn in Michigan.
Long communication lines and slow decision-making processes are inevitable consequences of such a labyrinthine corporate structure.
Today, as Mr Smith was keen to explain, it’s very different for the twin flagships of the West Midland automotive industry.
There’s a board of three: himself, Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, and Tata Motors MD Ravi Kant. And that’s it.
The day to day business of making motor cars is left to the JLR chief executive and his executive team.
“Tata has a refreshing view of business,” Mr Smith said.
“They are not trying to micro-manage and have put their trust in us to run the business.”
There’s many a CEO in many an industry would give his eye teeth to be able to say that.
Hence talk of being entrepreneurial and fleet of foot.
Ford did all right by both Jaguar and Land Rover, at least in terms of the billions of pounds of investment it pumped in and the fact that it kept faith with Lode Lane at a time when the plant’s future was looking distinctly iffy.
The decision to shut Browns Lane cost the Blue Oval company a lot of goodwill locally but it was the right one. A manufacturer with such modest volumes could never have sustained three assembly plants.
It was right to keep Halewood going – as shown by the fact that its ability to produce two such utterly unsimilar cars as the Jaguar X Type and the Land Rover Freelander on the same line is thought to be unique.
It can be argued that Ford never really understood Jaguar in terms of what constitutes its market appeal – although development of the XK, the car that revived Jaguar’s reputation for exciting sports cars, and the XF, which has had the same impact in the sports saloon sector, were driven by an American, the now-departed Bibiana Boerio.
Development of a new flagship XJ luxury saloon is well under way, and Rata Tata has hinted at a possible return to Jaguar’s glory days with a 21st century version of the E Type. BMW and Mercedes must now be looking at JLR’s potential as a rival with new eyes.
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