Luxury British car brands Jaguar Land Rover are in talks with the government over a possible £1 billion (€1.18bn) loan, it was reported today.
The news comes just months after the firms were bought by Tata, India's biggest vehicle maker, from Ford for £1.7 billion (€2bn).
It is thought Jaguar Land Rover, which employs around 15,000 workers in the UK, has been hit by the economic downturn, which has battered carmakers across the globe.
The Sunday Times reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was considering the proposal and an answer could be made in a couple of weeks.
A spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover said the company would not comment on ‘speculation on the content of confidential discussions with Government’.
‘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,’ he said.
Sales of Land Rover are down for this year in line with most other car firms although sales of Jaguars, helped by the success of the new Jaguar XF, have increased.
Earlier this month, Jaguar Land Rover announced it would extend a voluntary redundancy scheme, which could lead to almost 600 jobs being cut across the firm's plants at Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands.
