Jaguar Land Rover consider bid for minicab firm Addison Lee as car giant looks toward technological

In a bid to reverse their struggling fortunes, it has been revealed that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) may be considering a bid for minicab firm Addison Lee.
US private equity firm Carlyle Group, who are the owners of the Addison Lee, have hired Bank of America and Rothschild in an attempt to try and offload the company, with an asking price of between £300m and £500m.
It was reported in The Telegraph has reported that a slump in demand for diesel powered vehicles, as well as dwindling car sales in China, has seen 4,500 jobs lost worldwide, with JLR careering toward their first annual loss in a decade.
The job cuts which are part of a JLR cost-saving initiative, will see the company attempting to make inroads into self-driving technology and electric vehicles.
With JLR and Addison Lee already tied together as part of a Government funded project called ServCity, which sees the two companies undertaking autonomous vehicle research, it is believed that the aim is to trial driverless vehicles within three years.
JLR have already landed started making in-roads into self-driving technology by agreeing a substantial deal which will see them supply Waymo with 20,000 i-pace cars.
Jaguar Land Rover is Britain’s biggest car maker, producing around 600,000 vehicles per-annum. With companies like Uber and Lyft seemingly tying up the private hire market on a global basis, a link-up between Addison Lee and JLR could help secure the minicab companies future. Carlyle bought a majority stake in Addison Lee for £300m in 2013. The company which was founded in 1975, operates in 350 cities, and has more than 4,800 cars in London.
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Image Author MW