For a brand that relies a lot on image, what does the sale of Jaguar to Tata mean for its fans, asks Paddy Comyn.
THE SALE of Jaguar to Indian carmaker Tata is not a surprise to anyone who has followed the brand's fortunes of late.
And despite the fact that for the past 20 years, the British brand has been run by American firm Ford, many are worried that the new owners might be bad news for the company and its future.
Dermot Wallace of Dermot Wallace Motors has been selling new and classic Jaguars for many years, and is something of a Jaguar aficionado. What does he make of the new deal? "People are going to be making the usual British/Indian imperial connotations. I think the takeover is a good thing. A lot depends on how it is going to be perceived in England," he says.
"Jaguar has a very small market share here in Ireland - about 300-400 new cars per year. The Irish sales staff and dealers do a very good job here in terms of servicing and back-up and once that is maintained things will be fine, because it took a long time to get people back into Jaguars again after the days when they used to suffer from electrical problems."
William Lyons started Jaguar in the early 1920s, originally as a company producing motorcycle sidecars, but later as SS Jaguar and eventually Jaguar Cars. They made their name in the 1950s with some beautifully elegant sports cars and luxury saloons. Since then, there has always been something very special about owning a Jaguar. So will this new chapter in the company's history dent the pride in ownership of a Jaguar?
"It will for some but not for others," says Wallace. "If you can get young people into the cars they don't care. It will be down to how it is handled by the manufacturer and the importer."
Jaguar's history has been somewhat chequered, with a period in the 1970s and 1980s that is best forgotten, but for many owners, simply can't be.
Ken Cleary is secretary of the Irish Jaguar and Daimler Club, a group which has 120 members, and has been in existence since 1980. Where does he think things went wrong for Jaguar?
"They went wrong when there was a merging of the Austin Morris Group with Leyland to form British Leyland. It was during this period where there were many problems with the electrics.
"Mechanically there was nothing really wrong with the cars, but during this spell period very little money was spent and things started to go wrong," he explains.
The purchase of Jaguar by Ford in 1989 might have been the saving of the brand in some ways, allowing development of new models to what was a badly aging range.
Models like the S-Type and XK received high praise and quality improved dramatically, with many models now scoring very highly in reliability surveys. However, models like the X-Type failed to ignite the brand's mass appeal.
Since 2002, when Jaguar sold 130,000 cars, sales have halved. In Europe, Jaguar sales dropped more than 25 per cent in February compared to the same period in 2007. In the US sales have fallen more than 33 per cent this year compared with the same period in 2007.
Such poor sales, heavy losses and the plain fact that Ford needed the money prompted Ford to put Jaguar up for sale in June 2007.
"I have mixed feeling about the Tata deal," adds Cleary. "I think they could do an awful lot for Jaguar, they have the money there, but I am afraid it is a question of wait and see."
What is certain is that the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover will test the Indian brand like never before.
An Indian brand has never before scored an international success and should Tata look to cut costs, as is widely expected, will it be bad news for the brand, especially given the fact that Tata might not have the marketing experience to handle a prestige marque.
However, Tata does have a good track record in its acquisitions, including Tata Steel's $13 billion (€8.2 billion) takeover in April of Dutch-British steel giant Corus Group. This greatly expanded Tata Steel's range of finished products, secured access to automakers across the US and Europe, and boosted its capacity fivefold with mills added in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Many commentators thought Tata was foolhardy taking on Corus, and the many think the same of the Jaguar deal - time will tell whether the Indian firm has what it takes to make the big cat roar again.
For the Irish owners, the Tata purchase changes little if it can breathe new life into the brand.
"If you can get young people into the cars they don't care who owns the brand. It will be down to how the brand is handled by the manufacturer and the importer