Sorry, Xileno, but your suggestion is an automotive dead-end.
Porsche have made a success of that sort of approach but are surely heading for difficulties with increased emissions control, hence their taking control of VW.
Jag don't have such luxuries and with no big parent company we will need Mondeo platforms to keep volumes up and diesel engines for fleet and European sales. Land Rover have given up with petrol engines in the UK and are at a similar market level. Yes, the Mondeo platforms will have to be better engineered to make them feel different. We will need to keep the big and fast models too, thankfully, to give a halo to the bread and butter models. We will probably have to platform/component share with other manufacturers.
But there will not be much sleep!
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I dont think they would work without diesels in todays exec saloon market. But only use large capacity, V6 and V8 turbodiesels, which can have a very acceptable exhaust note IMO. 4 cylinders is wrong in a Jaguar.
BMW, Merc and Audi all have big capacity refined diesels; didnt Jag admit that they were caught napping with not offering as diesel S-type and the twin turbo 2.7 came out later than it should have?
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Lexus aren't over-endowed with diesels (the only one I know of is the IS220) but that doesn't stop them turning a respectable profit.
If Jaguar could first decide what sector of the market they wanted to master (probably a small niche for large petrol engined, RWD, automatic gentlemens' clubs on wheels) and dedicated themselves solely to it, they'd have a chance.
But that would mean completely restructuring the company (again!) into an altogether smaller, leaner, operation than it is now...so the question isn't could we (or any other auto company do it) but rather, would it pay them to do it?
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"Lexus aren't over-endowed with diesels (the only one I know of is the IS220) but that doesn't stop them turning a respectable profit."
But they do well in the USA and Jag don't anymore. In fact in California I think it is still currently illegal to sell new diesel cars. One reason my borther still has his Beetle - he likes diesels.
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What would we do?
0. Sell off anything incidental to the business and distribute the proceeds to the shareholders.
1. On the basis that there is a freehold plant. Restructure the business by splitting out the property in a Propco/Opco split, and then split the IP out of Opco into IPco. Undertake a demerger of Propco, IPco and Opco, with identical shareholdings for the two.
2. Consider Changing Propco into a REIT, paying 3% of asset value allowing later, tax-free disposal of properties.
3. With the charges for occupation of the properties and payment for IP, Opco will certainly be lossmaking. If it still has distributable reserves, gear it up and distribute them.
4. In a couple of years time, announce with crocodile tears that we shall have to shut down the business - which by now owns nothing tangible and owes money left, right and centre, particularly to the underfunded pension fund.
5. Sell the site for a handsome, tax-free, gain and reinvest into more useful property. Remember, the site belongs to HJ enterprises Propco - which is directly held by the shareholders, so is not affected by the insolvent Opco.
6. Likewise the IP - the Jaguar brand, patents etc. is owned directly, so can be sold to the Indians for cash that we get.
7. Retire happy.
Well, it worked for Rover, so it should work for us.
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The last word of point '1' should be 'three', not 'two'. Sorry.
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>>Well, it worked for Rover<<
Good posting Mapmaker, just one error...it didn't work for Rover, it worked for Towers and his cronies and the legion of advisors who creamed the fees.
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... Well, it worked for Rover, so it should work for us.
mapmaker:
" ... So imagine we are now the new board at Jag ".
100% correct, as it seems you picked out and understood the most important part of the first post by the op.
i.m.o. you have got it dead right. but then you are talking like a beancounter, who knows that the bottom line is about earning money and not getting all nostalgic about cars or any other products.
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I would make sure the bean couters reported to the quality and engineering directors.
Bean counters come out with statements like " can we make those engine bits out of cheaper plastic instead of metal ?"
We would have to make sure that it was run like an engineering company (not on nostalga and cost cutting) such as BMW & Honda - where the engineers make a decision after the bean counters have advised - too many UK engineering companies gone to the wall because the bean counters cut back on quality etc.
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Don't knock the bean counters. If the engineers had their way everything would be made out of solid gold because it is easier to machine.
Someone needs to hold the reins.
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Yes, spot on Mapmaker. I fear this is the only solution for Jaguar.
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>>Yes, spot on Mapmaker. I fear this is the only solution for Jaguar.<<
It's a real shame us Brits are useless are car making - don't you think ?
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No we Brits are good at car making and design. We are poor at marketing. The likes of Nissan, Honda and Toyota in the UK suggests we can make good reliable cars.... actually are Nissan's that reliable. Toyota and Honda are though.
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rtj70 - I agree with you, but mass car making is an interesting area of marketing.
On the one hand car brands are some of the most carefully constructed and controlled of any category of product or service - if you say something "is the BMW" of its type you instantly know what this means in a way that if you said something is the NatWest of its type would be much less clear.
Where the Japanese manufacturers really scored was in the truest sense of marketing - making stuff that people want to buy. Reliable, affordable, economical to run.
Britain should be capable of doing the same it has the same if not better access to technology, capital etc (it certainly did in the 60s when Japan was still economically knackered), quite why it couldn't turn this into product and value I simply don't know.
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>>making stuff that people want to buy. Reliable, affordable, economical to run. <<
So is it the engineers that achieve this reliability, affordability etc in what they design or is it the bean counters ?
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Short answer: neither. It was the visionaries who said - that's we'll build, nothing more, nothing less and stick with the vision.
I think drawing distinctions between functions is the root of the problem - you put parts of the business into silos that start to compete for power and resource and the vision becomes secondary. You end up with a bag of washing like Jaguar that is trying to be a luxury product and a mass market one.
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Get the biggest smoothest most powerful V12 under the bonnet, supercharge it by all means...
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.. So is it the engineers that achieve this reliability, affordability etc in what they design or is it the bean counters ?
in most major quoted companies, nowadays the top bean counters are there to make sure that the execs do not do things that land them all in jail (since the enron etc. saga, srabens-oxley etc. ensures this compliance).
companies fail because any combination of any of the following (in no particular order, written just as they come to my mind):
bad research & design & engineering, bad cost-control in production and design, bad quality control, high expenses/overheads, poor marketing and/or wrong target market, insufficient orders and poor sales training, bad load-factor of production lines, bad or expensive after sales service, poor reliabilty, badge not right for the image, and so forth.
at the end of the day, if the profit is not there (ultimately the beancounters can work their magic here), the company is no more.
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Assuming we get just Jaguar and not Land Rover to play with:
Have a stabilisation and rationalisation plan to maximise the sales of the current range while replacements being developed.
Develop in-house petrol and diesel engines.
New car range should be aimed at BMW / Audi / Lexus level.
Start with new core model mid-way between X-type and S-Type to replace both. Saloon and estate versions. Probably rear-wheel-drive.
Ultimate aim would be to have models in all sectors using Jaguar name. BMW, Audi and Mercedes have succeeded in doing that so why not Jaguar. Jaguar's problems have been partly that they have been too wedded to the past, too concerned with what a Jaguar is NOT rather than what it could be in the 2000's.
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Big changes would be needed - maybe make a rival to the X5, and certainly have an overindulgant flagship model with all the bells and whistles, and a nice V8, of course available in petrol and diesel. Scrap the x-type and s-type, and have one large new executive model to fit the bill. Possibly (this might be controversial), make a rival to the 1-series/A3/C30 too.
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Although Mapmaker is right in some ways, I think the brand 'Jaguar' is very different to Mg/Rover etc. It still has a resonance worldwide, absolutely everyone knows about Jaguar. What they know is that it's quintessentially British, it has sleek styling, a leather & wood based interior opulence, powerful smooth & silent engines - or more succinctly as William Lyons said 'Pace with Grace'
Some have suggested diesel engines, but these in my view, aren't necessary - there's enough technology developed/being developed for petrol engines to cancel out any huge advantage for large diesels - many of which in 6-8 cylinder guise barely achieve 35-38 mpg. An ultra-light, frugal straight six petrol (perhaps supercharged) in an alu-bodied car would compete nicely with any of the gargantuan & heavy V8 Teutonic diesels. It would also be much, much lighter & more agile.
Get back to good old fashioned intrerior oplulence - Bentley & RR still make this their (successful) signature. Make ride comfort the aim, let hot hatches serve up thrills - my old Jaguar Series 111 4.2 (made in 1981, last of the non-Fords!) was the best long distance car I've owned & made every drive an occasion. A 'proper' retro Jag (not like the rather compromised S-type) would capture the essence of that, much like the modern, though retro, Mini has. Could you imagine the E-type given the same make-over as the Mini? Or a 'proper' S-type, more the size of a BMW 3-series?
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>>(since the enron etc. saga, srabens-oxley etc. ensures this compliance)
Ha! It merely ensures (exceptionally tedious and therefore well-paid) jobs for the boys.
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The likes of Nissan Honda and Toyota in the UK suggests we can make good reliable cars.... actually are Nissan's that reliable.
No, not any more, and unfortunately that kind of knackers your argument unfortunately.
Nissan used to make reliable, well-engineered cars -- until they went bust. Now they're producing markedly inferior offerings to what was being made previously, and are turning a handsome profit.
This shows where Jag want to be -- tie in with the least reliable manufacturer you can think of, cut corners everywhere, keep up the pretence of quality inside and laugh all the way to the bank.
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cut corners everywhere keep up the pretence of quality inside and laugh all the way to the bank.
You could level that accusation at some well known German brands as well....
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04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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