Dave Phillips

The Vocal Yokel

THERE’S A nasty rumour going around that Jaguar Land Rover is in such deep doggie do- dos that owners Tata will either seek outside investment, sell it off or close it down completely. Amid falling sales, the company posted losses of £273 million for the last quarter of 2018, and has already cut 4500 jobs this year as part of a £2.5 billion cost-saving programme. There are plenty of naysayers in the media seemingly happy to write off JLR. Even Land Rover’s former chief engineer, Dr Charles Tennant, has gone public on the company’s plight, saying: “Jaguar Land Rover is definitely not too big to fail and most probably will not receive government support to help it translate into the new electrical technologies, other than important strategic research funding support via university departments such as Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG).”

Dr Tennant obviously has a soft spot for the WMG. After all, he was an associate professor there more than a decade ago when he set up Tata Motors’ European Technical Centre at the University of Warwick. There is no disputing the fact that much of JLR’S rapid growth and heady success in recent years has been down to the invaluable research carried out at WMG.

However, it appears that Dr Tennant’s bosses didn’t always listen to the advice he had to offer. Twelve years ago, he predicted (in an article in the University of Warwick’s in-house magazine) that “ten years from now, 50 per cent of the world’s commuter vehicles will be running on some kind of alternative fuel”.

At the time that article was published, he had been working for JLR for four years and had made clear his view that there was no future in conventional internal combustion engines, yet apparently his employers didn’t take heed of his advice, because they went ahead and invested heavily in a state-of-the-art engine factory in Wolverhampton, which is currently producing the superb Ingenium range of diesel and petrol engines.

It was a decision that Tata is probably now bitterly regretting, but Dr Tennant insists he had warned them. “Hence I just don’t get it when I hear Jaguar Land Rover feigning surprise at the demonisation of diesel,” he says. “Even worse, why they invested so heavily in diesel to the point that 90 per cent of their cars now run on it.”

You can see his point. Nobody likes their advice to be ignored.

But in fairness to JLR, Dr Tennant’s voice was one among many clamouring to be heard. There’s no doubt that the good doctor’s remedy was never acted upon because the loudest voices of all came from politicians, eager to drive down carbon emissions. Back in 2007, switching from petrol to lean-burning diesel engines was succeeding in bringing down C02 levels, which was top priority at that time.

It is not JLR’S fault that politicians moved the goalposts. It won’t be the first time and it probably won’t be the last. The recent slump in diesel sales has seen CO2 levels rise – and the recent BBC lament by Sir David Attenborough warning of the dire consequences of global warning may well see politicians executing a u-turn on diesel. We shall see.

In the meantime, JLR is investing heavily in electric propulsion, which the company says will be an option for every model in its range in 2020. There is no evidence of panic, but why should there be? Of course they’ll pull through. After all, Land Rover has history on its side.

Back in 1948, the arrival of the very first Land Rover baled out the struggling Rover car company, which would probably have disappeared without the income from the bestselling 4x4.

Two decades later, and by now part of the grossly-mismanaged British Leyland conglomeration, it was the profitability of the Land Rover that kept most of the rest of the British motor industry alive. And without the further success of the new Range Rover, launched in 1970, the whole lot would have died much sooner.

Throughout these years, Land Rover itself was under-funded and its models desperately outdated, but the launch of the Discovery in 1989 transformed its fortunes – as did the Freelander in 1997, as well as a whole raft of new models ever since.

Throughout its 70 year history, Land Rover has faced some very formidable obstacles, but has always overcome them. The reason it has succeeded where other marques have failed is largely down to brilliant engineering. As long as that remains the cornerstone of the business, I have no doubt at all that when JLR does produce electric versions of its cars, they will be the very best in the world.

Ignore the pessimists trying to put Land Rover down. The future is as bright as ever. EX-LRM Editor Dave has driven Land Rovers in most corners of the world, but loves the British countryside best

“Dr Tennant made clear his view there was no future in conventional combustion engines, yet his employers didn’t take heed”