Place Your Bids Last Chance

[chatman]

Come on we must be able to scrape together something....

Did a whip round the office and got 22p and a boiled sweet slightly fluffy but can be licked clean....

LandRover and Jag Sale

:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[shcm]

Chatman,

Come on we must be able to scrape together something....

.......... and this could be a direct quote from a LR designers meeting?

Seriously, I'd love to see both these two being highly successful. I hope they find new owners that are in it for the long term with resources to match. If LR could produce a fuel efficient, reliable vehicle, I probably wouldn't be reading this forum. Unfortunately, I speak from experience, like a few others here I suspect.

I suggest you offer them 11p and the fluff as a starting point.

[Fujisan]

Agree with shcm wholeheartly.

The workforce at Halewood had done a marvellous job and they deserve an owner with a long term vision for LR.

Halewood has turned out to be one of the most efficient and flexible plants in the Ford empire.

Just this morning I seen six car transporters full of Freelander 2's, heading down the M56.

I can only wish the 2500 people employed at Halewood and the other thousands of workers employed at the Jaguar and Land Rover sites across the country, good luck and my best wishes

Happy driving :)

[Manxrav]

Agree with shcm wholeheartly.

The workforce at Halewood had done a marvellous job and they deserve an owner with a long term vision for LR.

Halewood has turned out to be one of the most efficient and flexible plants in the Ford empire.

Just this morning I seen six car transporters full of Freelander 2's, heading down the M56.

I can only wish the 2500 people employed at Halewood and the other thousands of workers employed at the Jaguar and Land Rover sites across the country, good luck and my best wishes

Happy driving :)

I personally don,t think another car maker will touch them. L/R ok but Jaguar is a no no. Probably some investment group will buy it asset strip it and let the Chinese pick-up the pieces for next to nowt. Echos of MG Rover do I hear!!! or echos of BMW!!!!!

Clare

[Fujisan]

I hope you are wrong Clare but I fear that you might be right :(

With the global over capacity in motor manufacture and the green swing against large 4x4's / large cars what once would have been an attractive proposition is now harder to sell.

The only glimmer of hope for Halewood and a possible defence against the asset strippers, is that because it is now so efficient, the reports I have read from business experts state that it would not be attractive to asset strippers. Bluntly there is nothing left for them to prune off and then sell on the remainder (at a gross profit into their back pockets, never mind the taxman :censor: ).

You are right Clare, I cannot see another major American or European manufacturer buying either company. The best hope is that a smaller Asian manufacturer will buy up Land Rover.

Jaguar I am afraid is in a much weaker position, of it's own making. The company has been stuck in a 1950's design time warp.

Where the motoring press would once say BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar they now say BMW, Mercedes and Audi. The company to it's credit has apparently sorted out it's quality problems but you cannot sell cars on heritage and nostalgia.

Having been to China several times, they are shrewd business people. They bought MG for the BMW technology and technique's. I cannot see them buying Jaguar. They can see that there is no longer a market for that type of pipe and slippers car. Beijing and the other large cities is full of BMW 7 series, Merc S class, Audi A8. These are the cars that young thrusting rich business people aspire too, not just in China but all over the World.

Again, I can only wish the best for all the people employed by Land Rover and Jaguar and their families.

Happy driving :)

[anchorman]

I don't want to wish anything bad on anybody but a lot of the problems that plague both of these companies comes from the attitude of the employees. If they could change the way they think about work, have some pride in what they do and see a bit further than the end of their nose then they might have produced reliable as well as desirable cars and enjoyed themselves while they were doing it. Moreover it might have secured them a more certain future. It isn't all of them but enough to hinder progress.

I have just joined another industry (rail) that is plagued with an appauling attitude and the ones that have been there the longest are the worst. Bigots like Robbo, Scargil and Knapp are icons to them.

It's political but you reap what you sow.

Regards

[Fujisan]

Duel Mass Flywheels!

Do RAV 4 owners have trouble with DMF's due to faulty design or those damn red in the bed bolshie militant workers in Japan?

I'll admit industrial relations in the 70's and early 80's were pretty poor, still are in some industries but and it is a big but not everything can be blamed on the British worker.

I visited Halewood has a young lad when they were producing Escort's and it was a frightening place but the people that were kept on to build Jaguars and later Freelander 2's, just like their counterparts at Nissan Sunderland, Toyota Derby and Honda Swindon, have bent over backwards to build the best cars that they can possibly produce.

These plants are recognised within their companies and within the industry for high standards and great efficiency, they deserve an long and prosperous future.

It is just a shame that because of short sighted decisions by Ford in the States in the 90's to invest in pick-up trucks and large SUV's, the company is now dying on it's feet and they are having to shut plants worldwide and sell off anything of value. I do not think this can be blamed on the workforces of Jaguar / LR.

Interestly I now read that BMW are looking into buying Volvo, the last remaining member of Ford's PAG. Maybe they have bolshie miltant workers in Sweden as well?

Happy Driving :)

[anchorman]

I suppose I come over as extreme right wing but I prefer to think of myself as having an open and "middle of the road" view.

Toyota are not perfect. Their handling of the flywheel issue lets them down badly. I don't know if it a general policy or something specific to TGB. We may have seen a u turn with the most recent example and imagine what a positive impact it would have on customer loyalty - as it is we read posts by people pondering the purchase of a RAV but put off by the prospect of such problems.

I agree it doesn't do to place all of the blame for the LR and Jag problems on the workers but it isn't all down to the way it has been managed either. Equally I'm not sure whether they are to be sold to make money or if it is to stop losing money. I just think that if they were producing higher quality products they might not be in this situation but propping the rest of Ford up. Amongst the workforce are people that go to work, not with the intention of doing the best for the future and prosperity of the company (themselves) but to cause maximum disruption and it is that minority to which I refer. I work amongst such people and they threaten my future but seem unable to see they do the same for their own. I also believe that the success of Nissan, Toyota and Honda in the UK is largely down to the Japanese culture and the absence of the old British culture. What happened to our coal, steel and other heavy industry?

Just my opinion.

[Boro Sera]

I suppose I come over as extreme right wing but I prefer to think of myself as having an open and "middle of the road" view.

Toyota are not perfect. Their handling of the flywheel issue lets them down badly. I don't know if it a general policy or something specific to TGB. We may have seen a u turn with the most recent example and imagine what a positive impact it would have on customer loyalty - as it is we read posts by people pondering the purchase of a RAV but put off by the prospect of such problems.

I agree it doesn't do to place all of the blame for the LR and Jag problems on the workers but it isn't all down to the way it has been managed either. Equally I'm not sure whether they are to be sold to make money or if it is to stop losing money. I just think that if they were producing higher quality products they might not be in this situation but propping the rest of Ford up. Amongst the workforce are people that go to work, not with the intention of doing the best for the future and prosperity of the company (themselves) but to cause maximum disruption and it is that minority to which I refer. I work amongst such people and they threaten my future but seem unable to see they do the same for their own. I also believe that the success of Nissan, Toyota and Honda in the UK is largely down to the Japanese culture and the absence of the old British culture. What happened to our coal, steel and other heavy industry?

Just my opinion.

Extreme right wing? Unfortunately accurate I'd say !

The 'entire community' type employers seem to be rife with this sort of attitude. If they are arguing for health and safety/equality etc then fair play, but most of the time it seems to be for shorter hours/more hols and inflation busting pay increases. This sort of attitude simply isn't practical or helpful in todays market. Years of getting away with it have made them feel untouchable. And don't get me started on the whole nepotism side of it. Isn't there a saying about putting all your eggs in one basket.

Naturally nobody wants to see localised wholesale unemployment, but ultimately if your work practices and attitudes are rooted in the past then you can't realistically hope for the future.

I worked for a while at Nissan and the work ethic and pride in their job was an eye opener. Superb place going from strength to strength