Tidak heran, karena quality Jaguar di bawah competitorsnya (German trio Merc, BMW and Audi).
Kecuali di INDO, di mana Jaguar adalah 'simbol status dan gengsi' hehehehe
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FORD could face national industrial action involving tens of thousands of employees over its plans to close a Jaguar factory in Coventry.
Ford is expected to announce tomorrow the closure of the Browns Lane Jaguar plant, with the loss of 2,000 jobs. Browns Lane, which makes the XJ saloon and the XK sports car, is where Jaguar was founded and is still the marque’s headquarters.
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Ford today announced the end their Formula One programme with Jaguar. The F1 squad will not be re-branded as Ford as previously rumoured, but in fact is to be sold.
The unexpected announcement was made as Ford announced that it was ending production of cars at a plant in Coventry, central England, with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs because of weak demand for the up-market brand.
Cosworth engineering will no longer receive a Ford subsidy, throwing into doubt the supply of engines to both Minardi and Jordan Grand Prix.
"Jaguar's presence in Formula One has been a valuable marketing and brand awareness platform particularly outside our main markets of the US and the UK,†said Chairman and CEO Jaguar and Land Rover, Joe Greenwell. “However it was our collective view that it is time for Jaguar Cars to focus 100% on our core business."
“After a thorough review over many months Ford Motor Company has decided it can no longer make a compelling business case for any of its brands to compete in Formula One,†Greenwell continued. “Having reached this decision our focus has turned to securing the best future for our Formula One businesses and our employees in these businesses going forward. We are therefore putting our Formula One businesses up for sale. “
Earlier this week, managing director David Pitchforth had voiced confidence that the team would receive an increased budget for the 2005 season.
Providing Jaguar with the resources required to allow it to compete on a level playing field with leading manufacturer teams like Ferrari and Renault would have required a major cash injection that Ford would have found difficult to justify at a time when it is cutting 1,000 jobs.
World champions Ferrari spend around 600 million dollars a year while Jaguar's 2004 budget was estimated at around 180 million dollars and their performances reflect their limited funding. Current race drivers Christian Klien and Mark Webber can both claim a best finish of sixth position.
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Associated press
Jaguar to Eliminate 1,150 Jobs
Luxury carmaker Jaguar said Friday it was stopping assembly work at its headquarters and cutting 1,150 jobs as a result of overproduction and poor sales in the key U.S. market.
The company said there would be no compulsory redundancies at the Browns Lane plant in Coventry, central England, which opened in 1951 and employs about 2,000 people.
The decision was announced after executives from parent company Ford met with union officials.
"We have too much capacity and that is our underlying structural problem," Jaguar chief executive Joe Greenwell said. "Our bottom line has further deteriorated this year with the weakness of the dollar."
Jaguar sold 57,000 cars in the United States last year, about half of its output, but U.S. sales were down 3 percent in the first six months of this year, the company said.
Mark Fields, Ford vice president and the company's most senior executive in Europe, said that "decisive action was needed to get Jaguar back on track and to ensure a viable future.
"Jaguar simply cannot support three assembly plants with annual sales of 125,000 cars," he said.
British Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said the decision was "disappointing."
"However, given the company's financial performance, tough decisions had to be taken," she said.
Union leaders condemned the announcement. The Transport and General Workers Union and Amicus said they feared further closures.
"We are not prepared for British workers to be treated as cannon fodder to satisfy American shareholders," said Tony Woodley, general secretary of the TGWU.
"We will be consulting our members and giving them leadership to fight for their plants and jobs. It is also likely that we will be consulting with our members across Ford in the U.K."
Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, said: "Ford's decision may kill off Jaguar. Our members will fight like tigers to keep the lion's share of quality car manufacturing in Britain."
Jaguar said it was shedding 400 production jobs at Browns Lane through voluntary redundancies and moving 425 production jobs from the site to its assembly plant in Birmingham.
Final assembly will cease at Browns Lane in September 2005, but 310 staff will continue working there on wood veneer manufacturing. Jaguar spokesman Don Hume said he didn't know how many employees in total would remain at Browns Lane after the overhaul.
Meanwhile, Jaguar will cut 750 office positions across the group - with voluntary redundancy programs for 500 of them. The remaining 250 office jobs being axed are agency positions.
Some 5,600 people already work at Jaguar's assembly plants in Birmingham and Liverpool. The company plans to reduce production by 15,000 units this year.
Ford said it would create 300 new jobs at its Aston Martin plant in Gaydon, central England.
Jaguar also announced it was withdrawing from Formula One racing at the end of the year and that Ford was putting its Formula One business up for sale.
"Jaguar's presence in Formula One has been a valuable marketing and brand awareness platform," Greenwell said. "However it was our collective view that it is time for Jaguar Cars to focus 100 percent on our core business."
Jaguar lies seventh out of 10 in this season's Formula One constructors' standings.
The carmaker said its headquarters would remain at Browns Lane but that most of the site would be sold for redevelopment.
