Jaguar Land Rover
Humble Indian auto brand buys two marquee English auto brands… which then proceed to produce their best cars in decades. Or even ever. Who would’ve thought?
That’s precisely what happened when Tata bought Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford in 2008. While many laughed up their sleeves and predicted a dumbing down of these illustrious motoring names, the opposite has happened.
Given the freedom and rupees to truly globalise their brands, Jaguar Land Rover’s designers and engineers revelled in their new independence, producing some of the best vehicles in their segments. In the last two years, they have really hit their straps with the new Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Jaguar F-Type Roadster and Coupé, and over the next 18 months will launch three more key models in the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Jaguar XE compact-executive sedan and Jaguar F-Pace crossover/SUV.
Not only has Jaguar Land Rover launched a series of exceptional motorcars, but as a business the company has been hugely successful. Its big spend in research and development facilities – in the global top 100 for R&D spend (ahead of British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce) – has paid off handsomely and JLR posted an R10,6-billion before-tax profit in its last reported quarter.