CFO Studio Magazine with David Chambers, CFO, Jaguar Land Rover NA

CFODAVIDCHAMBERSWAS THEREWHEN FORD SOLD JAGUAR LANDROVER TOTATAMOTORS, AND, WITHAHANDFUL OF OTHERS, HELPEDBUILD A NEWCOMPANY - BY JULIE BARKER - Photography by Matt Furman COVER STORY Road Tested 8 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 3rd QUARTER 2016 T he BlackBerry chimed shortly after David Chambers had made his way from Nevada and into Utah while driving along Interstate 15. It was August 2008, and Chambers, Vice President of Finance and CFO of Jaguar Land Rover North America, then based in Irvine, CA, was on a family trip to Colorado Springs, CO. The summer trip was a break from the tumult of creating a new company — a startup, essentially — from the frames of three other carmakers: Ford Motor Company, Jaguar, and Jaguar’s sibling, Land Rover. When Chambers stopped his 2007 Ford Edge and checked his email, he had a message from the CFO of JPMorgan Chase’s automotive business: “I need you to call me.” Chambers had a good idea what he would hear when he phoned. “We were working on our first financial services deal with them,” he says. It involved a contract that would give Chase exclusivity in the auto loan and leasing market for Jaguar Land Rover ( JLR) in the U.S. But automotive sales in July had been down more than 10 percent on average from a year earlier (with General Motors off 22.2 percent and Chrysler off 21.4 percent) and SUV sales, in particular, had plunged (54.4 percent at Ford). On top of that news, gas prices had struck $4 a gallon and overall consumer confidence had plummeted from 111.9 a year earlier to 51.9 in July. Chase’s CFO wanted a signed deal before any more damaging news spooked buyers. “The banks were in as tough a position as we were back then,” says Chambers, but he worked out a deal with Chase, to this day JLR’s U.S. financial services provider. By its own analysis, without that agreement allowing buyers to finance and lease vehicles, JLR North America, then just two months old, would have seen 30 percent lower sales volumes and hence fewer dollars for investment, with shattering impact on the infant company. Today, JLR North America is riding high with growing sales of both its Jaguar and Land Rover lineups. Moreover, while both did well in 2015,