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View Full Version : Is Jaguar next for a bail-out?



Vulpix
12-18-2008, 08:24 AM
UK Government confirms Jaguar talks (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7789055.stm)


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44948000/jpg/_44948114_44710075.jpg Jaguar Land Rover has already cut output due to falling sales

BBC: The government has held talks with Jaguar Land Rover over the possibility of state aid for the carmaker, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has confirmed.

He said no decision had yet been made - as it was too early to tell if any car firm needed help - and that ministers did not have "an open chequebook".

Since the summer, Jaguar Land Rover has cut output at its plants in Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood.

India's Tata bought the firm from Ford in June for £1.7bn ($2.6bn).

'Analysing carefully'

Jaguar Land Rover, which employs about 15,000 in the UK, said last month that it faces "unprecedented trading conditions" as global sales for the whole of the car industry have fallen sharply since the summer.

It also announced last month that it was cutting 850 agency jobs.
"We are analysing very carefully what is going on in the [car] sector and we will make good judgments in good time if it is appropriate for the government to take any action or if it is possible for us to do so," Lord Mandelson told Sky News.

"I have had discussions with the owners and management of Jaguar Land Rover in particular, because they argue that they are under particular strain."

While Lord Mandelson warned there would not be "a great long list of industrial bail-outs", he did seem to indicate that the car sector might be one that the government looks at favourably.

"The car sector - car manufacturing - is a centre of real excellence and competitive strength in our country," he said.

"It is not just the carmakers themselves and all those employed directly in the production of cars, it is the huge supply chain of many small and medium-sized enterprises that supply components and other elements to that very important manufacturing process."