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Jaguar Land Rover undergoes $3.2 billion turnaround plan as sales slump

MUMBAI — India's Tata Motors on Wednesday announced a turnaround plan for its luxury car unit Jaguar Land Rover, which has been hit hard by trade tensions between China and the U.S., low demand for diesel cars in Europe and worries over Brexit. Under "Project Charge," Tata Motors said it plans to cut costs and improve cash flows at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) by 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) over 18 months. JLR also plans to launch several new vehicles, including the Jaguar I-Pace and the new Range Rover Defender over the next few years and will offer a hybrid or full-electric version of all its models by 2020. "Together with our ongoing product offensive and calibrated investment plans, these efforts will lay the foundations for long-term sustainable growth," JLR CEO Ralf Speth said after Tata Motors reported a quarterly loss. JLR has trimmed its pre-tax profit expectations for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, and expects to break even, Speth said, versus an earlier target of profit growth. As part of the turnaround plan, JLR will first focus on cash-saving "quick wins" like reducing non-product investments and speeding up asset sales, Tata Motors said in an investor presentation. In the near term it will improve efficiency in areas including purchasing and material cost, manufacturing, logistics and people, and will focus on strategic and non-core asset sales. JLR has already reduced the number of production days at its UK plants in Castle Bromwich and Solihull. The company said in its presentation it has saved 300 million pounds since it initiated the turnaround plan six weeks ago and is working on 500 ideas for the future. Tata Motors reported a loss of 10.49 billion rupees ($141.9 million) for the July-September quarter, compared with a profit of 24.83 billion rupees in the year-ago period. That was worse than the estimate of a loss of 2.40 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data. JLR reported a loss of 101 million pounds during the quarter and its margin on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 130 basis points to 9.9 percent. Retail sales of its Jaguar sedans and Land Rover sport utility vehicles (SUVs) fell 13.2 percent to about 130,000 units, hurt particularly by tariff changes in China and escalating trade tensions. Demand in China remained muted even after the country cut import tariffs for cars and car parts to 15 percent for most vehicles from 25 percent from July.

2019 Jaguar XJ50 is a supercharged birthday present

Jaguar is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its elegant luxury sedan, the XJ, with a stylish and supercharged new model called the XJ50. This nod to eight generations of XJ comes in long-wheelbase format and is powered by either a 340-horsepower supercharged V6, or snarling 470-hp supercharged V8. While the V6 model is available with a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive, the more powerful V8 is offered only in rear-wheel drive form. Revealed for the first time at the 2018 Beijing Motor Show, the XJ50 is visually separated by the standard XJ sedan by having unique front and rear bumpers, a gloss black grille, special badges on the side vents, along with 20-inch alloy wheels with a gloss black diamond turned finish. Four colors will be available: Rosello Red, Santorini Black, Fuji White, and Loire Blue. How something along the lines of British Racing Green didn't make the cut remains a marketing mystery, however. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The XJ50 cabin is fitted with unique touches like an XJ50 logo on the front center armrest, illuminated XJ50-branded treadplates, diamond-quilted seats with the Jaguar leaper logo on the headrests, along with metal pedals and aluminum shift paddles mounted on the steering wheel. "This is a car worth celebrating and the XJ50 pays homage to a giant within the Jaguar brand that we believe is one of the world's most stylish sporting saloons," said Ian Callum, Jaguar Director of Design. While only the most jaded automotive Grinch wouldn't enjoy a birthday celebration -- really, who doesn't like cake with their illuminated treadplates(?) -- there's a sense the XJ50 marks the end of the road for the brand's long-serving luxury sedan. Rumors persist that the XJ will soon migrate to an all-electric platform, to compete directly against cars like the Tesla Model S and upcoming Porsche Mission E. Jaguar did not release an exact price of the 2019 XJ50, though a long-wheelbase XJ with the 340-hp V6 and rear-wheel drive carries a starting price of approximately $84,500.Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Beijing Motor Show Jaguar Luxury Sedan jaguar xj

Autoblog Podcast #327

New York Auto Show, Jim Farley interview, 2014 Chevrolet Silverado fuel economy, Ford fuel economy app challenge
Episode #327 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Zach Bowman and Jeff Ross talk about this year's New York Auto Show, Chevrolet's latest assault in the pickup truck fuel economy battle, and Ford's reward for developing a better fuel economy app. Dan also has an interview with Ford's Jim Farley about the future of Lincoln. We wrap with your questions and emails, and for those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Keep reading for our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #327: