India takeaway Jaguar and Land Rover

[Gromit]

The two luxury British car-makers are being sold by Ford to Indian industrial conglomerate TATA for an estimated �1 billion.

Unions last night demanded assurances that up to 20,000 British car jobs were safe as motor giant Ford announced formally that it was poised to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to India.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /news/news.html?in_article_id=506064&in_page_i d=1770

[China Doll]

Tut... I saw this and thought I was being asked out. What a let down! (Ahem... sorry. I misplaced my serious answer).

[buildersmate]

So what's the question, Gromit?
Or is this the answer and we have to guess your question?

[China Doll]

I would guess that Gromit is just interested in comments of others and will add his 2 pennys worth at a later time.

[cazzz1975]

hmm, well it wont be long before they will gradually move things to india and close down land rover and jag,

they did it to peugeot and rover.

with tata involved the build quality will fly out of the wondow in favour of saving money, this is one of the most expensive country to build cars in.

[cazzz1975]

*window*

[China Doll]

Sorry Groms.

Hi trigs, you alright? Mine was nice, I was at some friends. Yours ok? I'm now waiting for a curry which was largely inspired by this post.... I didn't order a jag though.

[funkymoped]

Gromit... good to see a comment rather than a Question or Answer !

my own opinion is that Land Rover and Jaguar will continue to exist. both are quality cars with international reputations to keep. unlike the Tata, Jag and Land Rover ARE cars that are at the top of a very long list of car manufacturers.

nows the bit people dont like to hear ! if Tata close either plant, so what ! its been a long time since either car was British.
ive got little or no sympathy for the employees on top wages for doing what is nothing more than assembly.
it was the same when Longbridge closed... the whole of the British government and press were sobbing about how bad it was for them...
i was made redundant.... it happens !

[jno]

why would anyone buy them to close them down? It's not as if the Indian government pays you subsidies for sacking car workers. Jaguars have always been the most beautiful looking cars but you didn't want to buy one made on Friday, and Monday to Thursday weren't much better.

[kwicky]

Maybe they can export the millions of Indian workers who came to find work so they can keep the production line going.

[mushroom25]

strange, but not a word about this on "midlands today" this evening - is the sale as close as the DM suggests?

[jno]

not a done deal but Tata is definitely the frontrunner to buy the companies

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3124032-b9f4-11dc-a bcb-0000779fd2ac.html

[mightyWBA]

Mining ,Shipbuilding,Steel.
It amazes me how nobody bothers about our industrial heritage.
All those jobs are doomed.
Never mind �5 an hour at ASDA or reality TV awaits the nation.
Hang your heads in shame.

[jno]

mightyWBA, in the days of our industrial heritage a car would break down once a month. Modern cars seldom break down at all. Japan and Germany pioneered the vastly higher standards of modern engineering; Britain didn't bother, being too busy tied up in industrial squabbles at car plants. You can still buy a 1960s Mini if you want, and nostalgia fans do, but believe me, a 2000s Toyota is infinitely better. Britain's industrial heritage is fading away because of failure to invest, because of short-termism on the stock markets which saw profits as something to be handed out to shareholders rather than reinvested to improve plant and R&D, and because of appalling industrial relations involving bad management and bad unions, which postwar Japan and Germany, when rebuilding their industries, carefully avoided imitating.

[cazzz1975]

what we really want to know is

what does britain export these days??

[Pippa68]

Errrr yeah, what jno says...!

[jno]

less and less; service industries (tourism, money markets etc) more and more. Here's an interesting and not too technical article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Un ited_Kingdom