Silver Scorpio - International News | Spot News | Top News | Flash News | Live News
July 15 (Reuters) – India’s Tata Motors (TAMO.BO) on Thursday said its global vehicles sales rose 46 percent in June to 91,608 units, compared with a year ago.
The figure includes its British luxury unit Jaguar Land Rover, whose sales rose 47 percent in the month to 20,189 units, the company said in a statement. (Reporting by Janaki Krishnan)
Cosworth would be able to supply engines to a fifth Formula One team next season but expect competition from Renault, according to manager Mark Gallagher.
Renault last week indicated that they were looking to power another team in addition to their own and championship leaders Red Bull, triggering speculation that Cosworth could lose one of their four current customers — possibly Williams or Lotus.
Gallagher, who heads Cosworth’s F1 operations, told Reuters in a telephone interview before Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix that he was sure all four would stay with the British-based company and suggested Renault were more likely to do a deal with a possible new entry.
The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) has sought applications to fill the 13th and final slot on the grid, unless anyone else pulls out, after a planned USF1 entry failed to materialise this year.
“The obvious solution (for Renault) is actually the 13th team that is coming into Formula One,” said Gallagher. “My gut feeling is that it is probably a Cosworth-Renault competition to supply the 13th team.”
Mercedes and Ferrari already supply three teams each. Cosworth’s current teams are Williams, HRT, Virgin Racing and Lotus.
Gallagher said providing engines for five teams would be ambitious but feasible, since they would have supplied USF1.
“It certainly wouldn’t be a problem to step up to the mark again and do it for next season,” he added.
STRONG ENOUGH
The Northern Irishman, who formerly worked at Jaguar and as marketing chief for Eddie Jordan at the team that now lives on as Force India, said there were a couple of serious candidates capable of filling the 13th slot.
“There are still teams out there that are strong enough,” he said. “I think, interestingly, the people this time around have seen what has happened to the new teams, they’ve seen just how difficult it is.
“I think anyone who is coming forward now comes forward…perhaps with their eyes even more open.”
None of the 2010 newcomers, who have all signed three-year engine deals, have scored a point in six races and just getting two cars to the finish has been a victory of sorts.
Gallagher said all three debutants had done an impressive job while Cosworth had delivered what they had promised in terms of reliability and affordability. That just left competitiveness to be addressed.
Former champions Williams, he made clear, were pushing them hard on that.
“The whole reason we jumped at the chance to work with Williams is that when you have a driver like (Rubens) Barrichello, who’s proven to everybody that he’s still at the top of his game, he was going to tell us exactly what we needed to do to optimise the engine’s performance,” he said.
“When you are working with people like (Lotus technical head Mike) Gascoyne and (Williams co-owner) Patrick Head, they are able to say ‘This is where you need to be at’ and we are comfortable that we met or surpassed those targets,” he added.
“We have no fear of any other engine in Formula One,” added Gallagher. “Of course having been out of Formula One for three years, we are having to do things to get the engine mapping right and the programming to optimise the way the engine delivers its power.
“But we are making improvements literally every race weekend and we are seeing the result of that on the track.”
Gallagher also played down talk of an impending flotation of Cosworth, who were sold by Ford to U.S. based motor racing entrepreneurs Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe in 2004.
“This is pure speculation and we kind of accept that this will happen from time to time,” he said.
“We are seeing something like 30 percent year on year growth and that’s not all down to Formula One. As a result of that we are often the target of various approaches and then you get the media speculation that comes on from that.”
(Editing by…To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
London, Apr 28(ANI): England off-spinner Graeme Swann is reportedly upset and furious after his Jaguar was stolen from outside his house in Nottingham, UK.
According to reports, burglars broke into his house after they managed to bypass the property’s security system, when his wife Sarah was out for shopping. Nothing else was reportedly taken.
“I hope the chaps who broke into my house while I am away are involved in a freak accident with a blunt instrument very soon,” The Sun quoted Swann, as having written online.
Swann was in Barbados preparing for the Twenty20 World Cup when he heard the news, and an England source said: “Swann was upset as he feels unable to do much to help from thousands of miles away.”
The 31-year-old also owns a Porsche. (ANI)
London, April 24 (ANI): A British man has claimed that he is Britain”s unluckiest motorist after going through five car crashes, three hit-and-runs and also being struck by a bus while cycling.
John Child, 45, a mechanical design engineer from Milton Keynes, Bucks, who has even been mowed down on a zebra crossing, is scared to leave his home.
He revealed he has been in ten accidents in the last ten years, and in every case he has had to fight to clear his name after being accused of being at fault.
Child has suffered from whiplash, severe bruising all over his body and even a torn shoulder ligament, and he has also had to fork out for more than 4,500 pounds for repairs to his cars and bike.
“I”ve seen my doctors so many times now after crashes I”ve told them I”m allergic to cars,” the Sun quoted him as saying.
And to add to his woes, the out-of-luck engineer was made redundant from his job at Jaguar in Warwickshire last year.
His catalogue of disasters began on January 24, 1999, when a woman pulled out and drove into the passenger side of his VW Golf as he drove across a roundabout.
“I have been driving since I was 18 for 28 safe years and I have never caused a collision,” he said.
“I used to cycle 25 miles in the evening after work to clear my head, but I”ve given that up now. It”s just not safe to cycle on the roads anymore.
“I still can”t work out why this keeps happening to me,” he said.
Colour-blind Child has managed to clear his name in nine out of the ten disputes but is still fighting a legal battle from an incident in March last year.
His luck may finally be changing though, as he was recently offered his old job back and will return to Jaguar later this year.
“It”s great news getting my job back. I hope this means my luck is turning,” he said.
Adding: “After everything that”s happened to me, I”m lucky to be alive.” (ANI)
London, March 31 (ANI): Simon Cowell is set to gift his sweetheart Mezhgan Hussainy a 65,000-pound car on her birthday, it has emerged.
The music mogul, 50, and his fiancée, 36, are believed to have spent an hour looking at luxury models at a LA classic car showroom.
Mezhgan seemed particularly enamoured with a 1954 Jaguar XK convertible.
“Money is clearly no object but he”s considering buying her something that little bit special,” the Mirror quoted an insider, as saying.
The source added: “He”s obviously a big fan of cars but Mish is too.
“But Simon also has a wicked sense of humour and decided to present her with a mirror so they could both check their reflections. It”s a running joke between them.” (ANI)
Red Bull’s Mark Webber has denied he has any desire to quit Formula One, after former world champion Lewis Hamilton suggested the Australian veteran might be interested in bowing out on a high at the end of the season.
McLaren driver Hamilton was quoted on Wednesday as saying: “I don’t know how long he plans to stay in Formula One, but I get the sense that it’s one of those years he wants to finish on top and perhaps call it a day.”
“He has the best chance to end on that high this year and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is considering it.”
The 33-year-old Webber, who is bidding to become Australia’s first winner of its home Grand Prix on Sunday, said he was “very motivated, enjoying my job and looking forward to a great season”.
“I have no intention at all of retiring, give or take whatever season I have,” Webber said.
“So it’s Lewis’s opinion and he’s free to have that, so I don’t have a big problem with what he said.
“I’m very happy at the moment, enjoying driving for the guys that I am driving for, so it’s a very, very good situation for me at the moment.”
After stints with Minardi, Jaguar and Williams, Webber joined Red Bull in 2007 and broke through for his most successful season last year, picking up two victories among his eight podium finishes to end the year fourth in the drivers’ standings.
-Reuters
Queen Elizabeth’s personal Jaguar has been put on the market in London.
A memorabilia dealer is selling the Daimler Majestic V8, used for the Queen’s travels around Windsor.
A secure phone link to Downing Street and the Home Office has been removed, but other personal touches remain.
The car has some special accessories fit for a queen. Worried there would be no place for her handbag, she asked for a special sliding tray to be fitted to the armrest.
And as the calfskin seats can be slippery, Jaguar provided covers for magazine holders in the doors so the royal corgis did not slide off the seat into them.
Extra window switches were also installed to prevent the Queen from appearing with a wind-blown look.
London, March 19 (ANI): If you’ve always wanted to travel like a king, then here’s your chance – the Queen’s customised Jaguar Daimler Majestic is up for sale.
The 2001 made roadster has clocked 14,000 miles and was used by the British monarch until 2004.
Since it was designed specifically for the Queen, special features include an armrest to accommodate her handbag and a hidden panel of security lighting.
To add to the regal touch, the original registration used by the Queen is still with the car.
However, the royal ride is by no means cheap and is expected to sell for over 65,000pounds.
“This is a one-off chance to buy car that was made especially for the Queen,” Sky News quoted seller Peter Ratcliffe, as saying.
He added: “Nothing in the car has been changed from when it was owned by Her Majesty. It is totally unique.
“I expect this will be bought by a Jaguar enthusiast. I hope that the miles are kept down and it isn”t used on a daily basis but it”s really up to the person that buys it.” (ANI)
London, Sep 18 (ANI): Ex-Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine has claimed that all Formula One teams are cheats.
Irvine says there has been an overreaction to the race-fixing charges being levelled at the Renault team.
He admitted the Crashgate scandal that cost Renault team chief Flavio Briatore and technical boss Pat Symonds their jobs had gone too far.
“F1 is a war and all is fair in war. When I was in various teams you would do anything to win. You pushed people off, you did whatever you could do to win,” he said.
“This is probably slightly on the wrong side of the cheating thing, but in F1 – if you look back at days gone past – then every team has done it. They will cheat, bend the rules, do whatever they could, sabotage opponents.
“Nothing was beyond the realms of decency and that is what F1 always is. It is not a pure sport,’ The Sun quoted Irvine, as saying.
The Renault team still has to appear before the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Monday where they face a massive fine, race suspension or even being kicked out of the sport.
But Irvine reckons they could escape with a more lenient penalty amid fears that another team is about to leave the sport.
Irvine, who also raced for Jordan and Jaguar, added: “If you think that McLaren got a 100 million dollars fine for having some papers of the Ferrari team, what punishment is relevant here? It is complete banning. But I don’t believe that is going to happen as F1 cannot afford to lose more teams.”
Briatore threatened to sue Piquet Snr after the three-time world champ made the revelations about his son. (ANI)
Mumbai, Sep 1 (ANI): Tata Motors, India’s largest vehicle maker have posted a consolidated loss for its fiscal first quarter, but remained confident about the prospects of its loss-making Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) unit.
This was disclosed by the C Ramakrishnan, Chief Financial Officer at a press conference that was also addressed by Ravi Kant, Vice Chairman and Prakash Telang, Managing Director of the company here on Monday.
The company, which controls about 60 percent of the world’s fifth-biggest truck and bus market, said that increased borrowing to support investments and new product development caused an increase in depreciation and interest costs.
It said JLR unit’s sales fell about 52 percent in the quarter from a year ago due to adverse global market conditions.
The company is eyeing some support from the commercial banks to meet the crisis.
“We are working on to tie up our working facilities with commercial banks for Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR)…this has been put in place, some work is still going on which would be finalise in next few weeks,” said Ramakrishnan.
The company reported 3.29 billion rupees consolidated loss for April-June.
In the year-ago quarter, Tata Motors posted a net profit of 7.2 billion rupees, but said the figures were not comparable as the previous period contained JLR numbers only for June 2-30. Tata said JLR made a loss before tax of 62 million pounds during the fiscal first quarter. JLR sold 35,900 units during the quarter, up from 32,600 in the March quarter.
In July, Tata Motors reported a standalone net profit of 5.14 billion rupees for its Indian operations. But officials hoped that market would recover despite a weal monsoon.
“I can say that things would have been better, but the monsoon has not been so good that caution optimism but we still believe that things would be slightly better in coming time,” said Prakash Telang, Managing Director, Tata Motors.
Auto sales in India have been rising on an improving economy, easier finance and new launches, including Tata Motor’s Nano, the world’s cheapest car, which hit the roads in July.
The company’s consolidated debt at the end of June stood at 240 billion rupees. The company has said it would look at capital raising at an appropriate time to deleverage its balance sheet. (ANI)
Mumbai, May 29 (ANI): Tata Motors, India’s leading manufacturer of both heavy and light automobiles, launched a new line of trucks, named ‘World Truck’ here on Thursday.
The launching of the new series of trucks also marked the company’s objective to bring international standard top quality trucks in the Indian market.
The range, which comprises of multi-axle trucks, tractor-trailers, mixers and special application vehicles, is a bid by Tata Motors to prove itself as a global auto major.
“There will be various offerings coming from this. There will be tractors for taking higher levels of movements across high speed tracks. There will be tippers which will be meeting construction and mining requirements. So, it is an entire range of products which will be coming through this,” said P M Telang, Executive Director, Tata Motors.
The company however has not mentioned the price levels of its latest models and the varied versions.
“It’s about changing the way trucking happens in India and bringing it closer to the sort of levels that you see in more developed countries and rest of the world. So, it is a range of models and when you talk of range of models, there is no one price we can talk about,” said R Ramakrishnan, Head of Marketing, Medium and Heavy Trucks, Tata Motors.
Tata Motors bought the Jaguar and Land Rover brands last year, and is raising funds to close a 1.9 billion dollars residual bridge loan taken for the acquisition. (ANI)
New Delhi, May 28 (ANI): Defence Minister A K Antony will dedicate the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) to the nation on Thursday.
The first of the three Indian Air Force (IAF) AWACS platform landed on Indian soil escorted by the venerable Mig-29 and Jaguar fighters at the IAF’s Jamnagar airbase, on Monday.
The AWACS is a tripartite venture amongst India, Russia and Israel.
The IAF laid down the operational requirements in detail based on which the Israeli ‘Phalcon’ radar was mounted on the Russian IL-76 aircraft equipped with the more powerful PS-90A engines making it more advanced than many such systems.
This is the first of a total of three AWACS that the IAF is slated to receive.
The remaining two are expected to be inducted into the IAF by 2010 and all the AWACS would be based at Agra.
India is one of the few countries to have inducted the AWACS in their Air Forces.
The AWACS is a true ‘force-multiplier’ that gives a quantum jump to the operational capabilities of the Indian Air Force.
Known as the Air Force’s ‘Eye in the Sky’, it is capable of detecting intruders over sea and land at large distances.
It has many other capabilities including Electronic and Signal Intelligence gathering.
Once operationalised alongwith the Operational Data Link (ODL), Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) and the Air Force Net (AFNET), the IAF would be able to take a definitive step towards Net Centric Operations. (ANI)
New Delhi, May 25 (ANI): The Indian Air Force’s eye in the sky, Phalcon AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) platform, arrived in India from Israel today.
The first of three Indian Air Force AWACS arrived in Jamnagar, Gujarat. It took off from Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday, first for Ovda in the southern Israeli coastal town of Eilat. At night, it flew from from Eilat to Jamnagar, reaching India on Monday.
The Israeli-built system is mounted on a Russian-built IL-76 transport aircraft as a part of the tripartite agreement between India, Israel and Russia.
Three Mig-29 and three Jaguar aircrafts took off from an advance fighter airbase of South Western Air Command (SWAC) and escorted the giant IL-76 configured in its new avatar.
The fighter formations caught up with the AWACS mid-air and escorted it as it entered the Indian FIR (Flight Information Region), and touched down at the Jamnagar Air Force Base, close to midday, today.
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, SWAC, Air Marshal KD Singh along with senior IAF officials and air warriors welcomed the crew of the AWACS aircraft that included the Commanding Officer of the first AWACS squadron, Group Captain B Saju.
“It was a great feeling to be escorted by our fighters and it feels really good to be back,” said Group Captain B Saju upon arrival.
The Israeli Phalcon AWACS will be inducted in air force squadron on May 28, which will help the IAF to monitor military build-up and aircraft movement nearly hundreds of kilometres inside Pakistan without violating their airspace.
The AWACS are slated to operate from the Agra airbase under the Central Air Command and frenetic preparations ahead of its first arrival to join the extended fleet of the IL-76 family are complete, said an Indian Air Force statement.
India’s most potent force multiplier, Phalcon AWACS, is also capable of tracking down incoming missiles. The all weather system capable of engaging 60 targets simultaneously and has a range of 400 km. (ANI)
London, May 7 (ANI) : Tata Motors, the parent company of Jaguar Land Rover, has said that it will reject a British Government loan guarantee needed to save the troubled British carmaker.
A Sky News report said that Jaguar Land Rover received a final offer on a 450 million pound loan from the business department last week, but the Government wanted a 15 percent commission on the loan.
A source close to the deal said: “What the Government was offering was not just a snub – it was a total insult.”
A Tata Motors source told Sky News the company would reject the government deal over the onerous terms.
The total rescue package involves loans of almost 800 million pounds, of which 340 million pounds is to come from the European Investment Bank and 450 million pounds from British banks underwritten by the Government.
In addition to the 15 percent rate, the Government is understood to want a veto power on the company’s board, its own chairman and a say in future redundancies.
But a government source dismissed suggestions the talks are close to collapse and said they want the firm to “succeed”, especially due to its strong environmental policies. (ANI)
London, Apr 16 (ANI): Skoda has beaten motoring’s elite to be voted the UK’s number one car brand and British-built Jaguar XF became the most satisfying new car to own.
The Czech manufacturer has Britain’s happiest and most satisfied owners, according to a survey. Skoda took the top manufacturer’s title and also had two cars in the top three individual models with the Superb second and Octavia third.
Jaguar’s new saloon took the top spot in its debut year, seeing off the challenge from Skoda’s Superb, and last year’s winner, the Octavia. A broad cross-section of drivers rated the XF’s combination of luxury, comfort and driving dynamics above all others.
More than 20,000 drivers were asked to rate their own cars on everything from reliability to build quality and running costs, The Sun reported.
Skoda overtook luxury brand Lexus after finishing second last year in the poll by Auto Express.
The top five brands are: 1 Skoda; 2 Lexus; 3 Porsche; 4 Jaguar; 5 Honda.
Top five models: 1 Jaguar XS; 2 Skoda Superb (pre-2008); 3 Skoda Octavia; 4 Landrover Discovery; 5 Lexus RX. (ANI)
According to the Sunday Times, an 800-million pound refinancing loan for the Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) appears to be on the cards, given the “advanced talks” of the company with British ministers and a banking syndicate led by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB.
The talks have been somewhat slow since November 2008, with officials being overwhelmed by “the size and power of the vast Tata business empire.”
In case the talks come through, the loan would help Tata – which struck a 1.15-billion pound JLR acquisition deal with Ford in June last year – to bring the company on stream and avert 15,000 lay-offs.
Citing sources familiar to the proceedings, the newspaper said that the materialization of the delicate stage talks largely depended on JLR’s ability to provide satisfactory loan security. It clarified that though the British government might assure 75 percent repayment of a 340-million pound loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB); for the remaining part of the loan amount, JLR would have to raise its assets as security.
Although the loan received the EIB directors’ approval last week, the funds cannot be extended to JLR till the time the conditions pertaining to the state endorsement have been met with. In principle, Tata is supposed to have consented to an additional 100-million pound investment together with the re-financing.
Tata Group-owned British car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has entered into the advanced stages of talks with the British government and banks on a loan of £800 million (Rs 5,840 crore), which could help the company on stream and save 15,000 jobs.
According to reports, talks were at a delicate stage and depended upon whether the Midlands-based car manufacturer could give enough security to the administration and a syndicate led by Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds for the loans needed.
The reports added that Tata is understood to have agreed technically to make investment of another 100 million pounds together with the refinancing.
The administration has asked the company to provide security in return for assuring repayment of a 340 million pounds loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Directors of the EIB sanctioned the loan during the last week but the funds cannot be given to Jaguar until the required conditions of the state underwriting are prepared.
Tata purchased Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in June 2008 for 1.15 billion pounds.
At that time, the group was money-making but sales broke up as the banking crisis intensified.
In March, Jaguar sales also remained weak, and slumped 30% as against the corresponding period of the last year, while Land Rover sales were down 37%.
Thursday, R. Sampathkumar signed a check for 3,809 rupees ($78) and ordered his first car: a Tata Nano. Bookings for the ultracheap car, which retails for 100,000 rupees ($2,050) plus tax and transport fees, opened Thursday across India.
Sampathkumar, who is 30 years old and single, makes about 20,000 rupees a month ($410) as a goldsmith and says he wants a Nano for “status.” “Automatically, women will come forward,” he said, grinning.
Dozens gathered Thursday to gawk at the silver Nano sitting on a red platform with pink satin skirting at the Tata dealership in Coimbatore, a mid-sized manufacturing hub in southern India. Two DJ’s blasted Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin and Madonna songs, while college kids snapped photos of the snub-nosed car on their cell phones.
Despite the festivities, analysts say Nano sales won’t do much in the short term to help debt-strapped Tata Motors, which is facing falling sales and is in talks with banks to refinance a $2 billion loan it took out to buy Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford last year. Vaishali Jajoo, auto analyst at Mumbai’s Angel Broking, estimated that even if Tata Motors manages to sell 250,000 Nanos a year, it will only add 3 percent to the company’s total revenues.
Production constraints mean Sampathkumar won’t get his new Nano until July, at the earliest. Violent farmer protests forced Tata to relocate at the last minute a factory that was to exclusively build Nanos, and the replacement won’t be operational before year’s end.
Customers who want to buy the Nano must pay 300 rupees for an application form, then pay the entire cost of the car or get financing from one of 18 banks Tata Motors made special arrangements with. Tata will accept orders until April 25 and then randomly select 100,000 people who will get the first shipment of vehicles.
Everyone else will have to wait. Tata will pay interest on booking deposits: 8.5 percent for people who have to wait one to two years to get their Nano, and 8.75 percent for those who hold out longer.
Tata spokesman Debasis Ray said the company would not release data on the number of orders until after the process closed, but added that “the signs are encouraging.” He said 300,000 people had visited Tata’s 400 showrooms across the country since the car went on display April 1.
In the last two weeks, the Nano Web site has gotten 20 million hits, he said. K. Thamilarasu, the divisional sales manager for Tata Motors in Coimbatore, said 21 people paid for the car in full at his dealership Thursday.
Another 19 made downpayments for financing arrangements. “I have been in this field three decades,” Thamilarasu said.
“This is the first time we are noticing a revolution.” Rajeswari Nandagopal, a teacher, paid 300 rupees for a booking form because she wants to buy a Nano for her son, 17, who currently rides a motorbike.
“These days going on two-wheelers is a great risk,” she said. J. Rathimasawamy, 70, a retired schoolmaster, said he sold his Maruti WagonR two months ago because he wants to buy a Nano.
“It’s the cheapest,” he said. Rathimasawamy, a wiry man with white hair and a dusty pair of flip-flops, took a bus from his home 25 miles (40 kilometers) away to buy a booking form.
Vijayakumar Jayabal, 50, a policeman who earns 12,000 rupees ($246) a month, said he wants to buy a Nano because he can’t squeeze his family of four onto his motorbike. “We only fit three people maximum,” he said.
London, Apr. 3 (ANI): Tata, the Indian owners of Jaguar Land Rover, are seeking 781 million pounds in Government and European loans to safeguard the company’s future.
Jaguar Land Rover is one of a number of companies looking to tap into the 2.3 billion pounds aid package promised by Lord Mandelson.
A spokesman insisted that it was seeking loans, which would be repaid, to fund the next generation of environmentally more friendly cars.
Beleaguered car manufacturers, who have been battered by the dramatic slump in demand in the latter half of last year, say action has to be taken to safeguard the 800,000 jobs supported by the industry.
They are also pushing for a scrappage scheme, which would see the owners of cars more than nine years old receiving a 2, 000 pound grant towards the purchase of a new replacement, The Telegraph reports.
In the case of Jaguar Land Rover, it means maintaining production at Halewood in Merseyside as well as Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands. (ANI)
London, Mar 25 (ANI): Ratan Tata, head of Tata Motors, which bought Jaguar Land Rover for more than one billion pounds, has said that the JLR may face huge damages unless the British Government stumps up 500 million pounds worth of loan guarantees.
The group is not looking for a cash hand out, but needs government backing to squeeze much-needed working capital out of the UK’s frozen banking systems, Sky News quoted Tata, as saying.
Without the guarantees, the company’s massive research and development programmes will suffer, with a knock-on effect on its long-term future.
“If the attitude is to see who blinks first, then the damage is going to be quite devastating. What we have asked for is not a bailout. What we have asked for is help from the Government to facilitate commercial loans, because the banking system has come to a halt,” Tata said.
The group needs the money to run its day-to-day business, for its 400million pounds-per-year research programme and for the 800million pounds five-year product development plan, The Independent reported.
The company has been asking for help from the Government since before Christmas, but to no avail. The Department for Business said yesterday that it is still in talks with JLR about its long-term plans, but will not get involved in the day-to-day financing of the business.
JLR is one of the major manufacturers looking closely at its eligibility under the scheme. But the funds are only accessible for the research and development of low-carbon vehicles, and cannot be used for simple working capital requirements. (ANI)
Copyright © 2013 · eleven40 theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in