Jaguar Land Rover parent says company is 'safe in our hands'

The owner of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has vowed that quality and brand values will not be compromised by its overseas expansion plans – and vowed to support the business for decades.

Last week, JLR announced it will open a manufacturing plant in Brazil in a £240m investment, with the first cars expected to roll off the production line by 2016.

This will follow the opening of a joint venture investment worth £1.5bn in China, with Chinese carmaker Chery, due to open in 2015.

Although JLR has not revealed what models will be produced in China and Brazil, Halewood’s popular Range Rover Evoque, which has taken the global market by storm since its launch more than two years ago, will be an obvious contender.

Roger Maddison, chief car industry negotiator for Unite the Union, said he sees no threat to UK jobs from the two proposed international plants.

But concerns have been raised about what impact they could have on the renowned British design qualities of JLR models, and the supreme quality of manufacturing at a company that prides itself on the high standards of its three UK plants in the West Midlands and Knowsley’s Halewood.

However, in an interview at Tata’s global headquarters in Mumbai, Mr Mukund Govind Rajan allayed any fears of compromise on JLR's standards.

He is a member of Tata’s group executive council and also brand custodian and chief ethics officer for the global conglomerate.

He told the Liverpool Post: “In China, setting up shop, a lot has to do with local recruitment and the value of training.”

JLR recently completed  a three- month training programme for China's “first joiners” who were tutored at Halewood in quality standards and will pass on their skills to the rest of the Chinese workforce.

Mr Rajan added: “We have terrific practices in the company and translating this to new facilities is not much of an issue.

“The brand will not undergo any changes in these markets. JLR brands will remain.

“Customers across the world have an affinity to JLR brands and the last thing we need to do as an owner is disrupt that relationship.

“We don’t want to create any kind of trouble for these brands.”

Mr Rajan said Tata had been delighted with the performance of JLR since it bought the group from Ford for £1.15bn and injected a further £1.5bn in 2009 to ensure its survival during one of the worst downturns in the automotive sector in decades.

And he reassured the UK workforce that Tata will be the custodian of JLR for decades to come.

“We have been delighted with the way the company and employees responded to the challenges at JLR,” he said.

“It is not about how do we save cash and cut back. It is about what do we do to build the business in the next 50 years. We don’t enter businesses easily, but when we do we are in it for the long term.

“We are not an aggressive, acquisitive entity, firing management and stripping assets and moving on. We build in the long term.”

When Tata bought JLR,  it also acquired Corus Steel in the UK and Mr Rajan admitted that there was a perception among Indian commentators and market analysts that the JLR deal was the “dodgier” of the two, but he said: “On current form,  JLR is turning out to be one of our outstanding successes.

“We work with the unions and the community and with JLR we have been very lucky and fortunate.

“There is a fair amount of satisfaction that a lot of growth has been seen and perhaps it has surprised the company, particularly the growth in China.

“But when we went in, this company had tradition and a legacy and a very interesting product pipeline and smart managers.

“We committed capital to ensure that pipeline was delivered and we needed leadership that was willing to give people the space to pursue their dreams.

“JLR meant a lot to the Tata group and they have a lot of time for the company and the new owners that inspired the managers.

“They knew we were watching and waiting for their success. It says a lot about the quality of the people we have there.”

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