Sales up as new chief takes wheel at Jaguar - Sales of Jaguar Land Rover are rising, just as the Indian-owned British-based car manufacturer has been given a new boss.
Tata Motors, Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, appointed Carl-Peter Forster yesterday as its worldwide chief executive, given special responsibility for rehabilitating the great British car marques.
David Smith, the chief executive who had overseen Jaguar Land Rover during its $2.3 billion acquisition by Tata from Ford in 2008, left last month. The arrival of Mr Forster, the German former head of General Motors’ European operations, including Vauxhall, comes as Jaguar Land Rover’s fortunes appear to be turning. Tata reported that global sales of Range Rovers and Land Rovers had more than tripled in January from the same month last year to 13,295. Sales of Jaguar cars more than doubled to 2,974 over the same period. There are also high hopes for the introduction of new models, including the Jaguar XJ and the Range Rover LRX.
Much of those sales went to the export market. In Britain in January, sales from the Land Rover half of the business were 66 per cent higher at 2,518, while Jaguar sales were down marginally at 1,041.
The rises come after an awful 2009 for the car industry, when sales plummeted, especially in the early months. Even after a stronger last few months, Land Rover sales are down 16 per cent in Tata’s current financial year and Jaguar sales are off 30 per cent.
In the UK last year Land Rover and Range Rover sales fell by 10 per cent to 29,185 while Jaguar sales were down 10 per cent at 18,234.
Mr Forster, 55, quit GM last November after the company decided to retain its Opel/Vauxhall operations, rejecting his call for a sale to Magna, the Canadian automotive group. The one-time McKinsey management consultant had been with GM for eight years. Before that, he had spent 13 years with BMW, where his roles included management board responsibilities for manufacturing and a stint running BMW South Africa.
Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors, said that Mr Forster’s arrival would help Tata to reach its ambition of “being a truly international company”.
Lord Bhattacharyya, Professor of Manufacturing at Warwick University and founder of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, said that Mr Forster’s international expertise would be vital to the future of Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors. “He has very good international experience and Tata Motors are very lucky to get hold of him,” he said. “The majority of Jaguar Land Rover sales are overseas and his experience of overseas markets is what it and Tata needs.”
Lord Bhattacharyya also believes that the arrival of Mr Forster will hasten the integration of Jaguar Land Rover into Tata Motors. The question mark hanging over Jaguar Land Rover is whether its Indian owners want to take production out of Britain to India — a suggestion that Tata Motors has always denied. However, the immediate tough decisions facing Mr Forster include the restructuring of Jaguar Land Rover’s operations in the Midlands, where workers — who are in dispute with the company over changes to terms and conditions — have been told that either the Solihull plant that makes the Range Rover or the Jaguar plant in Castle Bromwich is to close.

Average wholesale used van prices increased by 4.1% (£150) in January compared with the previous month.
 
The latest market analysis from Manheim Auctions shows that compared with January 2009 average wholesale used van prices are actually up by 46.0% (£1,210) with average age up by two months to 55 months and average mileage 5,144 miles higher at 74,024.
Examples of the increases in average month-on-month values in January include car derived vans up by 13.5% (£319 to £2,678), small panel vans up by 5.6% (£223 to £4,224), large panel vans less than 3.0t up by 2.4% (£83 to £3,577), large panel vans greater than 3.0t up by 12.0% (£437 to £4,069) and 4x4s up by 4.7% (£303 to £6,731).
Examples of decreases in average values include boxes and Lutons which fell by 17.7% (£752 to £3,498). At 55 months, the average age in January was down by one month compared with December while average mileage was lower by 2,831 miles at 74,024.
Alex Wright, Manheim Auctions commercial vehicles sales director, said: "Although the bad weather did have an impact on sales early in January I am very encouraged by the way that market activity noticeably ramped up once the snow and ice had gone.
"Despite the economic environment, the used van marketplace has stayed robust and the outlook for 2010 remains very positive.
"While business confidence is slowly beginning to return, new commercial vehicle registrations are unlikely to recover before the plate change in September and it will be smaller vans that are expected to recover first. This will result in the continued shortage of supply which should keep used values high for the next six months." (AM Online, 16.2.10)

Saab will be rivals to Germans in two years, says Spyker boss - Victor Muller, Spyker chief executive officer, believes he can make Saab a credible rival to BMW and Audi within two-years of ownership.
Muller told the BBC Saab will return to production levels of up to 120,000 cars a year within the next two years.
The ambitious plan all rests on Saab’s entire line-up being renewed and Spyker has already suggested making a rival to the BMW 1-series called the 9-1.
Muller said Spyker would help with new designs to help close the gap between Saab and its German rivals in terms of premium quality.
Spyker has already paid £47 million to acquire Saab from General Motors and will have to find a further $24 million (£21m) by July to complete the sale and carry out its product plans.
Saab will get €400 million (£348m) from the European Investment Bank, but the money has to be used for the Swedish brands operations rather than funding the acquisition. (AM online, 16.2.10)

UK car production rises 65% in January - Car production rose 64.8 per cent in January compared to the very weak performance in January last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufactures and Traders (SMMT).
Commercial vehicle production rose 9.6 per cent in January. This was the second consecutive monthly rise, again from a low base.
The SMMT forecast modest growth in 2010 compared to the 25 year low in 2009.
"Vehicle and engine production rose for a third successive month in January, demonstrating the continued success of global scrappage incentive schemes," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
"Despite the close of the UK scheme next month, SMMT expects a modest recovery in 2010 output as economic growth, a competitive exchange rate and the introduction of innovative new models to UK plants help to lift manufacturing levels above those seen in 2009." (Motortrader, 18.02.10)

Car rental giant to buy 20,000 new vehicles this year - After a turbulent couple of years, van rental giant Northgate is to buy almost 20,000 new vehicles this year.
This is in addition to the 9,400 new vehicles it purchased up to the end of October 2009
The vehicles will be used to replace almost a third of the existing 61,000-vehicle rental fleet.
The purchase of the 20,000 new vehicles - the majority of which will be Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot and Volkswagen vans - “reflects our need to replace existing stock and our confidence that we will see some limited growth this year,” said Ross Clarkson Northgate marketing director.  (AM Online, 17.02.10)