Can Jaguar Land Rover now think 'outside the box'?
By: John Mortimer, Wednesday, April 08, 2009, AutomotiveWorld.com
Who will develop the next generation of powertrains for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)? The question might seem theoretical given that the company has just rolled out two new engine ranges: new 5-litre V8 gasoline engines; and a new 3-litre V6 diesel engine for JLR products. So why worry now about future products when engineers claim the new vee engines are ‘future proof’?
In reality, as one engine programme rolls out, so work starts on replacements and engines can take five years to develop. In this case, the new vee engines – the noble element of any vehicle programme – are sourced from Ford plants. The V8 gasoline engine, in naturally aspirated and supercharged form, is from Ford’s plant in Bridgend, South Wales, the company’s global centre for high volume eco-friendly gasoline engines. The smaller, 3-litre V6 diesel engine is the responsibility of Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Centre, also in the UK.
Although take-off volumes for both are small, as a percentage of total output, JLR is a much-valued Ford customer. Bridgend can produce one million engines annually of which the new V8 accounts for 100,000. Dagenham, likewise, is a high-output plant of which JLR could take 80,000-90,000 3-litre V6 diesels and 20,000 3.6-litre V8 diesels.
Last year, Indian conglomerate Tata acquired JLR and as part of the acquisition agreement Ford agreed to supply Tata for at least five years. Ford will surely be keen to renegotiate a further period, as both engine ranges should make a useful profit contribution. But the question at issue remains: If there are to be new engines for JLR, who will design and develop them and where?
As a powertrain manufacturing leader, Ford will wish to contribute basic design input, with JLR tailoring design to vehicles. But with Jaguar’s Whitley technical centre in Coventry strong in gasoline engines, and JLR’s Gaydon Design and Engineering Centre possessing some diesel know-how, could these two units design the next generation of JLR engines for Ford to build under licence?
Furthermore, for how long will Tata retain the present status quo? At present, Ratan Tata, the Indian group’s chairman, in his regular six-weekly UK visits, appears content to adopt a ‘light touch’ in steering the JLR ship. It remains to be seen how long this strategy will last. How soon before new sourcing and purchasing initiatives emerge? Could the decision be taken to merge Whitley with Gaydon to form a single powerhouse of vehicle and powertrain engineering?
For the executives at the sharp end, who steer JLR on a day-to-day basis, there may be a unique opportunity to shrug off the worst excesses of Ford’s bureaucratic administration and, for the first time in a generation at least, use their new-found freedom to think ‘outside the box’ and refocus the entire business, yet retain marque differentiation. Ford’s bureaucracy, so deeply embedded in JLR, will take time and effort to dispel, but given the will, engineers and managers could forge a truly agile and efficient company. This would be free from the constraints imposed by rigid, complex reporting structures, meetings and long-distance travel, while retaining the best elements of Ford’s management style and emphasis on cost.
It should not be forgotten that Land Rover was owned for a period by BMW, so at least half of JLR has been exposed to some of the best German design, engineering and manufacturing brains; that heritage could enhance core capability in quality, design and performance. Of course, remnants of BMW’s culture may have all but vanished during the period of Ford’s ownership, but there may remain the potential to take the best of both worlds and apply them at a new level to vehicle engineering, coupled with Tata’s unique input.
Often overlooked is the fact that just a few miles away from Whitley and Gaydon, Tata is quietly cultivating its own automotive design initiative at Warwick University, which houses Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC). Here, in the past few years, a handful of UK engineers have blossomed into several hundred kindred spirits forming a technology hotbed, able to create and siphon UK automotive new product development know-how into the Indian subcontinent. So far, there has been little interchange between JLR and TMETC, but each is aware of the other, and the scope for future collaboration is surely enormous.
One real question remains: Can the JLR team members rise to the biggest challenge of their careers and craft a truly innovative and creative business that can excite customer expectations in design, performance, quality and cost, while simultaneously delivering acceptable financial performance to the parent company?
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
Published on Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Free e-newsletters
Our free E-Newsletter service is an excellent way of staying up to date with news and features from around the global auto industry.
