Poland loses bid to built Jaguars and Land Rovers

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GW is reprorting that the Polish government has yet again lost a bid to build motor vehicles in this country. In spite of tax incentives, the British producers of Jaguar and Land Rovers chose Slovakia as the site of their investment project. The factory is to be located in the town of Nitra.

Anyone know whether Slovakian manpower is cheaper?

Slovakian man power is much more expensive. They have the Euro.

From what I know, it's also a matter of logistics - Slovakia has a bigger car industry than Poland, so the supply chain is shorter. It may also be good old fashioned incentives whereby the Slovak government will have promised considerable concessions to them. As a man who thinks that foreign companies should pay their fair share, you should be supportive of the fact that the government hasn't bribed them.

In terms of wages, it's about the same.

But they are Indians, aren't they, not British?

Correct, unless Mr. Jamshedji Tata was British, which was not the case as far as I know.

Ford or Tata, it's a crying shame that Jaguar is no longer British.

Quite the opposite in this case. Since they are selling their cars in the Eurozone, choosing a country where costs are also in euros minimizes exposure to FX risk

I believe their largest market is the US, followed by the GCC then UK then the rest of Europe. It used to be that way, but I am not sure how it looks now.

It should be built in the UK not Slovakia or Poland. It is/was a British car, owned and built by the British. Now, its owned by an Indian company and will be built in Slovakia ! yeah let's buy that British Freelander, not.

Not to mention obsolete technology powered by obsolete fuel.

Not obsolete, unless suddenly most vehicles have adopted some sort of other technology and fuel.

Jaguar and Landrover still sell well, but are in an increasingly niche market compared to Asian marques.

When you see what the Asian (non-Indian) companies can offer (especially Kia), you really have to wonder who would buy an Indian car built in Slovakia...


I think "British" and can't help but think of British Leyland and other hysterically bad companies.

I tend to think of Rolls Royce, Morgan, Lotus, Jaguar, McLaren, Bentley, Aston Martin...

And Bristol too, amazing cars. A bit like the Macbook of vehicles; lasts for years and they keep upgrading yours.

Very true Roger !! After all us Brits built the modern world. Two industrial revolutions, the first commercial railway in the world, the humble friction match, why the list is endless.

A little conceited aren't we?

I know its hard, but it is true. Even the apple pie which Americans love to believe is some kind of American dish, is actually English.

Only partially. Britain was indeed at the vanguard of the industrial revolution, but other nations like the US (invention of light bulb by Edison) , France (internal combustion engine, photography, parachute,bicycle ), Italy (battery) played a major role.. Even the phrase 'industrial revolution' was coined not by an Englishman but by a Frenchman.. It is true that, unlike the Frogs, the Brits are more doers than thinkers, with the former also more knowledgeable about "revolutions" than the latter :)

Oh I don't deny other countries had a part in it, even now, the current digital revolution is American.

So yes others had a good part but Britain did industrialise the world by taking what would have once been made at home into mass production in factories.

The British revolutions created capitalism and the modern world.

Yes, tictatctoe, it's American,though we shouldn't overlook the British role in it.

With cars, closer to the topic, it was received wisdom a few years ago among economists that it's better to build them for other people than own the companies. It's just that (Jaguar, LandRover, Rover, Bentley) the people don't like that. Same in Poland, where they build for others. Hungary too.

It's a question of where it's better to make the money, commissioning, supplying or producing. A lot of product manufacture is outsourced to Poland anyway and there are cars made already. Jaguar/LandRover needed to be in the eurozone.

The main Rolls Royce company (engineering, not cars) is still British and although the share price fell brutally a little while ago, it's starting to rise again and is considered a good buy at the moment.

P.s. This isn't a share tip, the value of your investment can fall as well as rise blah blah blah

I still dream of a McLaren F1 in my driveway...

As for Poland, I don't think this is really much of a loss. Had they been considering a site in somewhere like Radom, then yes, it would be.

I recently made a dream come true when I bought a Jaguar X-Type. Purists might not consider it the real thing, but she's a beaut. The only thing I have ever agreed with Jeremy Clarkson about.

The E-type was the real stuff. Alas, no longer made!

True, but I saw a YT video about the 6 lightweight E-Type models made for people with 1.5GBP to spend this year.
youtube.com/watch?v=Gw6gAOpiXnQ