Rich with heritage an excellent style and performance but each have

also suffered Rocky histories.

And for years each were passed between new owners in Europe and the

U.S. including BMW and Ford.

With BMW owning Land Rover and Ford owning Jaguar in the 80s.

Then just when they were on the verge of bankruptcy the two thoroughly

British sister brands were bought by the Indian, Tata Motors.

Part of the vast Tata Group empire that makes up everything from

software to food products.

When Tata acquired them in 2008, both Jaguar Land Rover had their fair

share of financial struggles and had fought to overcome reputations

for unreliability.

If you were going to say drive across the country in a given vehicle

and hope that everything went well.

Pre-Tata, Jaguar Land Rover would have been one of the last brands I

would have picked to do that in.

I just didn't have faith in their vehicles.

Worse, Tata had bought these brands and perhaps one the worst possible

times in recent history.

Right on the cusp of the financial crisis.

However in the years that followed, Tata Motors did something many

owners had failed to do before turning them into moneymakers.

But things are getting gloomy for jail are once again.

Just as these two legends have finally found some footing a

drastically shrinking market in China for JLR and trouble in Europe

are threatening them once again.

The S&P lowered the credit ratings of both JLR and Tata Motors in

early 2019 and they are now deep in junk status.

The question now?

Will Tata Motors be able to turn around JLR once more or is looking to

cut its losses?

Jaguar was founded in 1922 as the Swallows Side Car company by William

Lyons, a motorcycle enthusiast and engineer.

Back then the company initially made side cars, those little pods that

sit on the side of motorcycles.

But in 1935, Lyons built the S.S.

Jaguar.

It was the first car to bear the Jaguar name.

Over the years the company has made sleek aerodynamic sports cars and

became known for racing.

Number 20 is the winning Jaguar which eventually finish nine laps

ahead of the next car.

Having traveled at an average speed of 93.5

miles an hour.

Perhaps the most famous example was the E-type which Jaguar started

making in the 1960s.

Land Rover had an entirely different history making off-road vehicles

used by the military and bucolic customers in Europe and around the

world starting in 1947.

Over the years Land Rover developed a reputation for making rugged

trucks an SUV with a distinct British touch.

Models such as the defender, developed reputations for ruggedness and

capability rivaled perhaps only by few vehicles such as the Jeep

Wrangler.

Though also extremely capable, the brand's Range Rover was perhaps

what anticipated the trend in high end luxury sports utility

vehicles.

And has even been the target of scorn for its popularity with

well-heeled buyers who never drive the thing off pavement.

The two companies were rejoined under one roof beginning with Ford

buying Jaguar in the late 1980s.

But in terms of fully exploiting the brand name of strength that we

were building up in the company there's no question we should be able

to do a better job with the resources that Ford Motor Company will

make available.

And then in 2000, Ford bought Land Rover.

Ford under went its own troubles in the following years.

It had to sell off many of the premium names they had acquired

including Jaguar and Land Rover.

And another high-end British automaker Aston Martin.

Just eight years after Ford bought Land Rover, Ford sold it and Jaguar

to Tata Motors for about 2.7

billion dollars.

Tata Motors did exactly what many fans and enthusiasts say is the best

thing an owner can do for car companies as legendary as these.

And it paid off.

Jaguar Land Rover didn't really start to become a powerful and

competitive group of brands in the modern automotive world until Tata

took over.

And when Tata inherited both brands and invested the kind of money

that they had long needed invested.

That's when you saw everything from the design to the engineering to

most importantly the quality, reach a level that made them comparable

to things like a BMW or an Audi or a Mercedes.

Up until 2017, it looked like Tata Motors had engineered a lasting

turnaround for the legendary brands.

But things took a turn for the worse in 2018.

JLR posting a loss of about 4.3

billion dollars in fiscal year 2019.

Its biggest loss in the last 10 years.

That loss resulted in a large part from a nearly 4 billion dollar one

time write down.

However even taking that into account the company still would have

lost money.

The company said in January of 2019 that it's cutting 4,500 jobs about

10 percent of its workforce.

Jaguar Land Rovers troubles have hurt parent company Tata motors.

JLR's recent troubles have been one of the factors contributing to

recent declines.

In April 2019, reports surfaced that Tata Motors is considering a sale

of the brands to French car manufacturer PSA.

Reports that Tata Motors denies.

Out of the two brands Land Rovers and the strongest.

But it has struggled as well.

A big part of the problem, Jaguar Land Rover sales in China fell about

26 percent in May and 46 percent in April.

In March 2019, the company said sales in China had fallen 34 percent

for the fiscal 2018 to 2019 year.

It is also facing headwinds in Europe.

Brexit threatens to raise costs.

More than 40 percent materials used travels from the European Union to

the United Kingdom.

And it must contend with increasingly stringent emissions laws in

Europe following the so-called diesel gate scandal that rocked

Volkswagen and other companies in the automotive world.

In a comment to CNBC, Jaguar CEO Ralph space said that:

But the U.S.

may hold the keys for JLR's recovery.

Land Rover's strongest markets in North America where it's in the

fortunate position of being a premium sports utility maker in a time

where U.S.

customers are hungry for SUVs.

JLR sold about 10 times as many SUV as the United States as did

traditional passenger cars in 2018.

Despite the fact that jaguars portfolio is still heavy on sedans and

sports cars.

But Jaguar is leaning into utility vehicles too.

It sold almost twice as many SUVs in 2018 as its famous sports cars

and sedans.

And unlike brands such as Porsche, it's brushing aside the usual

criticism that moving towards utility vehicles is straying away from

its race car roots.

The Jaguar Land Rover CEO also said:

Jaguar

is also stepping forcefully into electric cars with its I-Pace

crossover which has been praised by critics.

The car swept the world car awards at the New York International Auto

Show in 2019.

But North America's continued appetite for its vehicles might not be

enough to engineer a full recovery for the two brands.

Industry analysts worry about a larger downturn in new car sales is

looming.

The easier path is just sell Land Rovers people know them by

Land Rovers.

But they are taking a longer path by of keeping both Jaguar Land Rover

together because there are a couple of restrictions which are coming

in terms of fleet norms and all those things which they need to meet

and hence they can work out.

In the meantime Tata Motors has fended off reports that it's

considering selling the division to PSA group,.

The very same French automaker that bought Opel and Vauxhall car

brands from General Motors and turn them around.

Jaguar Land Rover have history and heritage on their side.

But the global automotive industry is changing rapidly and it's

unknown how much of that history and heritage will count in a

business increasingly obsessed with the future.