Given the all encompassing financial crisis of the past twelve months, it is appropriate that at the helm of one of the world’s leading automotive companies is a CEO who happens to also be a trained economist. Having joined Ford over 25 years ago, David Smith embarked on what he refers to as one of those global traveller career paths, which saw him undertake stints in Europe, North America and the Far East handling financial operations and ultimately achieving the position of Director of Finance and Business Strategy for PAG and Ford of Europe. While David has always been a self confessed car man, he marks that it was on his return to the UK as Finance Director at Land Rover that his passion for everything automotive moved firmly from that of the balance sheet to something much, much more: “I guess you could say they dipped me in green – and I think anyone who has truly experienced the capabilities of a Land Rover vehicle will know exactly what I mean by that. The driving experience is simply outstanding and from that you develop a passion – one which is clearly evident within our production teams, global employees and most importantly our customers.” After a further two to three years as Chief Financial Officer for Jaguar Land Rover and the acquisition by Tata, Smith was installed as CEO.

Plenty of commentators have spoken at length in the past about the ownership of Jaguar Land Rover by Tata and the future effects this might have. David eloquently summarises the position as he sees it: “Ford made huge investments and put all the fundamentals in place for both of our brands to be successful. I think for Tata it was a relatively easy decision since they recognised the great work done, and that the full potential had yet to be realised. Unlike the corporate Ford setup, with Tata there is a very personal relationship and we interface with 3 or 4 of their key personnel on a regular basis - but we have autonomy. They let us get on and do it.” Now more than ever, there is plenty to do. David described the effect of the credit meltdown: “It has been horrendous. In the 18 months preceding the credit crunch, we made over £600 million in profit with award winning products and record sales – then we saw an unprecedented drop in consumer confidence and demand which have led us to have to take some extraordinary and difficult decisions and actions. Production levels have been adjusted and unfortunately we have had to make redundancies, but we have also reached agreements with our workers union to ensure that, where possible, our people are as minimally affected by all this as they can be.”

As our time together moved on, the subject of the media’s reporting on the economic downturn and inaction of the British Government took centre stage. We candidly discussed the effects both of these have had on the situation: “The treatment we have received from certain parts of the media has not helped and indeed I think there has been a very poor understanding of the motor industry in its current form; almost that it is still stuck in the 70’s in terms of its capabilities, which could not be any further from the truth. There has been a clear misconception of the ‘motor industry bailout’ phrase, which the media have banded around. All we have been seeking to do is try and get the banks to lend to us commercially, as they did before, in order that we can continue with our plans for research, development and product sales.”

In terms of the UK government, David’s view is also clear: “I believe they recognised the importance of the situation the motor industry faced and it is fair to say that as far as help for an industry we are next in line to the banking sector. The sad fact is that automotive assistance from the government is far too little and far too late. Proposals that have only recently been announced would have made a much bigger difference had they been sanctioned back when we as an industry first started asking for them in November of last year. The allocation of up to £2.3 billion in funding through the Automotive Assistance Programme is a positive step. However, despite the fact that we have made some progress in understanding how to access assistance – and we have a loan of £340 million approved by the EIB – we have not, as we sit here today had any support.” Budget-announced programmes were welcomed, but David marked that it is important to realise just how far such initiatives can conceivably go: “We support measures that will help to stimulate demand for new cars, including access to consumer credit. The initiative by several European governments to introduce scrappage schemes has clearly had a positive initial effect on demand, but generally this has been limited to smaller car sectors. We expect very limited direct benefit of the UK scrappage scheme for those manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover engaged in the premium sector.”

David’s affirmation is that it is within the drive towards better environmentally performing vehicles that Jaguar Land Rover’s future success will be founded. “We will get through this - on that I have no doubt - but what we must preserve is our capacity for continued product development, our peoples’ skill set and our continual drive for evolution and forward investment. We are producing the best cars we’ve ever made: beautiful, award winning, innovative cars and ones which are beating the best products our rivals bring to market. We do the things we want to do very well and my job, as I see it, is to ensure that we continue as a company on that ideal.”

“I’m convinced, even in this economic downturn, we must continue to target climate change and there is a great opportunity to dig ourselves out of the current crisis by confidently investing in environmental innovation. We are investing £800 million to develop sustainable technologies and reduce CO2 emissions from our vehicles and each year we spend approximately £400 million on research and development – that’s over a third of the total annual UK automotive investment and places us firmly in the top 50 R&D companies in the world.”

At the end of our time together, David remarked on the importance of the continuing global appeal of Jaguar Land Rover’s products and how it is essential they continue through evolution and innovation to meet the demands of a worldwide audience: “We are a global business, with two internationally acclaimed and respected brands. We export four out of five of the cars we make and realise that our products must deliver in terms of consumer desire and satisfaction no matter where they are purchased. We have worked very closely with our British, US and Canadian dealers, together with current consumers, to arrive at the award winning Jaguar and Land Rover products we have today. I am fully aware that our future success relies heavily on our products hitting a sweet spot with North American consumers just as they do in Europe and increasingly further afield. At present China is our fifth biggest market for new vehicles sales, and our third is Russia, where we outsell both BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The future emerging markets are going to be key for us also; we will soon be launching in India and our relationship with Tata will, I am sure, prove to be extremely helpful.”

“It is a trying time, and there is a lot of tension currently throughout every area of what we do but we have an incredible product line, a world beating research and design team and an excellent global employee bedrock. We look forward to continuing our role at the forefront of the automotive world and through our work to help bring about a more sustainable and energy responsible global motor industry.”