VOLKSWAGEN, NISSAN and Tata’s Jaguar/Land Rover unit are to receive €866 million in loans from the European Investment Bank to finance the development of fuel-efficient cars.
Jaguar Land Rover will get €366 million to fund research work on reducing the CO2 emissions from its cars, the Luxembourg-based bank said in a statement yesterday.
Nissan will get €400 million for research at plants in Spain and the UK. The remainder will go to Volkswagen’s Indian unit.
The EIB is increasing loans to European car manufacturers to help them weather a slump in demand for vehicles prompted by the global recession.
The bank, the lending arm of the European Union, agreed last month to provide €3 billion to vehicle makers, including BMW and Volvo.
It’s feared, however, that Jaguar/Land Rover may still have to eliminate jobs in the event the UK government fails to guarantee as much as £500 million (€555 million) in loans under a separate program, Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata said last month.
Excluding today’s amount, EIB lending to European car- and truckmakers has totaled €3.6 billion since December, and further proposals being submitted may raise the figure to €7 billion, the bank said.
– Bloomberg