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LONDON - JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR), owned by Indian group Tata Motors, is in talks with the British government about a sizeable loan to prop up the employer of thousands of workers in Britain, a report said on Sunday.
The Sunday Times newspaper said Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) was in talks regarding a loan of one billion pounds (S$2.3 billion).
The iconic brands Jaguar and Land Rover together employ about 15,000 workers in Britain, whose car industry like the US auto sector is suffering at the hands of a global economic slowdown.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was considering the JLR proposal and could deliver a verdict in a couple of weeks, said The Sunday Times.
In response to the report, a spokesman for JLR said: 'The automotive industry is facing unprecedented trading conditions as a direct fall out of the banking crisis and turbulence in financial markets and we are of course keeping government appraised of the impact on our business.'
Tata Motors completed in June its acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover from ailing US carmaker Ford for US$2.3 billion (S$3.5 billion).
Groups representing Britain's car industry last week urged the government to help bolster the ailing sector, partly by increasing access to credit.
The call for help came as US car giants Chrysler, Ford and General Motors pleaded for US$25 billion in US government-backed loans.
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