Saving Jaguar

On the brink of the abyss in the early Eighties, Jaguar saw its fortunes turned around by a new chairman, John Egan. We meet up with him at the Jaguar Heritage Trust at Gaydon to talk about his strategies for the company’s recovery

- Ray Hutton

FOR JAGUAR, it was the ultimate indignity. The British Leyland Motor Corporation renamed its Browns Lane factory: Large Car Assembly Plant No2. The marque that Sir William Lyons had created and nurtured was in danger of becoming simply a model line in a range of Leyland cars.

When British Leyland came into being in 1968 it brought together the brands of the former British Motor Corporation with Jaguar, Daimler and Leyland’s Triumph and Rover. In a message to employees, BLMC chairman Lord Stokes said, “Jaguar will be able to pursue its own course, within the overall policy of the group.” When Sir William Lyons retired in 1972, his long-standing lieutenant FRW ‘Lofty’ England became managing director. A year later, British Leyland replaced him with 34-year-old Geoffrey Robinson. Backed by Lord Stokes’ assurances, Robinson announced a £60million investment in Jaguar and a plan to double production from 30,000 to 60,000 cars a year.

The next year, 1974, Robinson’s big idea itself faced the abyss as Sir Don Ryder, of the Government’s National Enterprise Board, prepared a ‘rescue plan’ for the unwieldy and heavily loss-making Leyland conglomerate. The Ryder Report called for a rationalisation of marques and models, grouping them all together as one profit (or loss…) centre, pooling all resources and facilities, and relegating the identities of individual brands to little more than badges.

As a result, British Leyland was effectively nationalised. Lord Stokes stood down. Jaguar would no longer have its own CEO, and Robinson and his ambitious plans were ousted.