‘I WAS TERRIFIED OF GM BUYING IT’
Sir John Egan reveals his secrets from running Jaguar
It hasn’t always been an easy ride for Jaguar. That was especially true when it had to fend for itself while bringing its Series 3 replacement – the all new XJ40 – to fruition during the late Seventies and Eighties.
Until this year’s XK70 event, celebrating 70 years of the marque’s XK engine, tales of the firm’s parlous state were kept private. However, former chairman Sir John Egan revealed a lot of previously unknown information during a Q&A session at the event. Suitors, suitable and otherwise, were sizing up the business while the XJ40’s launch slipped further and further away amid updates for models already in production. Perceived quality was at an all-time low for the company; its new car had to silence previous criticism, while embracing state-ofthe-art technology.
‘ When I got to Jaguar in 1980, the XJ40 project had been around for six or seven years and the whole of our engineering team was kept busy fixing problems created by suppliers and improving the huge quality issues on our existing products,’ said Sir John.
Privatisation couldn’t have come quickly enough – there simply weren’t enough staff to update the existing Series 3 and make the complex electronics envisioned for the XJ40 a reality. For at least five years, Sir John recalls, the XJ40 was designed at night by a team under chief engineer Jim Randle. By the time enough staff were in place to handle such a task comfortably, the XJ40 had been launched. The influx of talent was such by 1988 that Jaguar’s research and development departments were more or less world class. ‘It was one of my biggest challenges, but by the time Ford bought Jaguar we were there.’
Ford did eventually buy Jaguar - but General Motors came worryingly close. Sir John was worried that Jaguar’s long-term survival was incompatible with American stewardship; neither conglomerate, he felt, wanted to hold on to Jaguar for long enough.
‘I was terrified of General Motors, because I used to work for them! I knew they would have been better than Ford but not by much. To own a luxury car company you have to own it forever to make it make sense.’
Of course, the Blue Oval’s stewardship did much to make Jaguar viable. When it eventually passed out of Dearborn’s hands in 2008 (as the Premier Automotive Group of Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover was broken up) the Indian Tata Group swooped in.
If ever there was a silver lining, Tata was it, believes Sir John. ‘ When I asked Ford how long they intended to keep Jaguar, they said, “Oh, a long time – at least 10 years”. When I asked Ratan Tata, he said “Forever”. Tata had the right idea.’