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Tata to shed 1,100 Jaguar Land Rover jobs after coronavirus hits earnings

BENGALURU — India's Tata Motors Ltd expects to shed about 1,100 temporary jobs at Jaguar Land Rover after it raised the cost-cutting target at its luxury unit by 1 billion pounds ($1.26 billion) to ride out the disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Tata Motors expects to save 5 billion pounds in costs by March 2021 at its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit, the Indian automaker's Chief Financial Officer PB Balaji said on Monday, adding 3.5 billion pounds of the savings had already been achieved. It will also reduce capital expenditure at JLR to 2.5 billion pounds for the current fiscal year, from the more than 3 billion pounds it has spent annually in previous years. "Conserving cash and prioritizing capital expenditure, and targeting investment spending to the right areas is our focus," Balaji told reporters, after the company posted a fourth quarter loss. We anticipate that up to 1,100 agency employees will be affected, a JLR spokeswoman said in a separate statement. Tata Motors is reviewing all its businesses and would consider exiting those that do not add strategic value, as part of a broader effort to save 60 billion rupees ($789 million) in its domestic business in the fiscal year to 2021. The automaker on Monday posted a consolidated fourth quarter net loss of 98.94 billion rupees, as coronavirus lockdowns across its markets ravaged sales, including at JLR. Total revenue from operations fell 27.7% to 624.93 billion rupees in the quarter, which ended March 31. JLR, which contributes the bulk of Tata Motors' revenues, reported a pre-tax loss of 501 million pounds for the period after it took a hit of 800 million pounds because of the novel coronavirus, Balaji said. He said there were signs sales were recovering in China, one of JLR's biggest markets, as well as in the United States and in Europe, with strong orders for Land Rover's sport-utility vehicle Defender and Range Rover's Evoque. JLR's boss Ralf Speth, who has led the company since 2010, will step down from his role at the end of his contract term in September. ($1 = 76.0446 Indian rupees) ($1 = 0.7954 pounds) (Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Sriraj Kalluvila)

Jaguar takes bite out of Mercedes' Magic Body Control chicken ad

We were quite impressed by Mercedes-Benz when it aired its Magic Body Control commercial, starring a group suitably funky chickens demonstrating their ability to jive to Diana Ross and the Supremes. Now, Jaguar has taken the opportunity to poke some fun at its German rival, releasing its own take on the Magic Body Control spot, and um, there's a big cat involved.
You'll really want to take a look at this video, which is just another sign that in terms of clever ads, Jaguar is doing quite well. We aren't sure if "Jaguar vs. Chicken" will make it onto TV any time soon, but it's still fun to see the British brand take the mickey out of Mercedes - it's rare to see automakers go after each other so bluntly in their marketing efforts. Scroll down to watch the video (we've also included a bonus video, Jag's recent "Cat In A Box" spot).

Jaguar names its 3 Series-fighter XE, packs it with Ingenium engines

Jaguar is committed to emerging from the fringes of the luxury car market and into the mainstream. Just take a look at where it was a couple of decades ago and where it is now: In the 1980s, it had essentially two product lines, the XJ sedan and XJ-S coupe/convertible), and now it's got the XK coupe and convertible, the XJ sedan, the XF sedan and wagon and the F-Type coupe and roadster. But it's not about to stop there.
Coventry knows that if it's going to take on the German and Japanese heavyweights, it's going to need a compact sports sedan, and it's not about to repeat the mistake that was the X-Type. To that end, it's long been rumored to be developing a rival to the likes of the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class - it just hasn't given us much to go on. But that changes right here and now.
At the Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar has confirmed the imminent arrival of its new sports sedan, and along with the teaser image above, has given us some juicy details. For one, it'll be called the XE - fitting nicely alongside its big brothers the XF and XJ in Jaguar's growing sedan lineup. For another, it'll hit markets overseas in 2015 and arrive here in the United States in 2016.