Lindsey Dipple, bully and JLR press fleet manager, dailycarblog.com
Down Goes Jaguar Land Rover! Down Goes Jaguar Land Rover?
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As much as we dislike Jaguar Land Rover UK PR for continuing to employ Lindsey Dipple who tried to bully and belittle our colleague. We bear no such malice towards the workforce. So outraged were we at Dipple’s erratic and impulsive behavior that we decided never again to cover any official Jaguar Land Rover blurb. And we are British are duty bound to show unwavering, flag-waving patriotic support. No way. If Jaguar Land Rover goes down, we hope it takes Lindsey Dipple along with it. But that won’t happen.

It turns out some people actually condone this behavior within her industry. But the terrible human being that is Lindsey Dipple aside. Jaguar Land Rover is in trouble. The company is planning a two-week shut down of its Solihull plant at the end of October.

The combination of falling sales, Brexit and new diesel regulations means Jaguar Land Rover is up to its elbows in mud. And It’s going to take more than it’s 4×4 capabilities to get out of this mess.

In the EU referendum, Solihull voted 56 percent in favor of leaving the EU.  Yet Jaguar Land Rover relies on European suppliers just as much as it does with UK suppliers. It just goes to show how uninformed and ignorant the Brexit voters were.

The uncertainty over trading conditions post-Brexit is affecting business confidence. If Brexit does happen manufacturing could be delayed. New deals will have to be negotiated with European partners and suppliers. All of this increases costs.

Jaguar Land Rover made over 600,000 cars in 2017. It is one of the smallest premium luxury car makers. By comparison, Tesla is smaller, employs slightly fewer people but generates almost the same annual net income.

However, Tesla’s stock market value is worth much more. It features in the top five of most valuable automotive brands. Jaguar Land Rover is nowhere to be seen.

China has also seen a dramatic fall in JLR sales. The territory has been a boon for JLR in recent times and offsets any losses made in Europe or the US. JLR believes Chinese consumers were waiting for their government to implement a reduction of import duties before committing to buy.

When that happened, sales did not rebound. Then Jaguar Land Rover cited trade tensions with the US for the slowing of China sales.

The UK car industry is facing a wave of uncertainty over Brexit. In addition, sales of diesel cars have fallen due to new taxation rules and tougher emissions standards.

For JLR new car sales declined by 20.5 percent in September. Jaguar Land Rover has repeatedly made it clear that Brexit will harm future profitability if no clear Brexit strategy is implemented.

The company has already moved production to a three day week. The CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, Dr Ralph Speth, recently indicated he would have to reconsider £80bn of future UK investment.

In other words, Speth is saying he will seek to move production abroad. The biggest weakness of JLR, is not just Lindsey Dipple, it’s also Jaguar.

Land Rover products outsell Jaguar, indeed in many ways Land Rover keeps Jaguar alive. Right now Jaguar is treading water, swimming against the tide.

Whether Jaguar as a company will survive Brexit isn’t the issue, it’s been on life support for some time.

Lindsey Dipple, bully and JLR press fleet manager, dailycarblog.com
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