LONDON (Reuters) - Struggling British luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover said on Thursday it did not want a government bailout, but did want credit flowing again either from direct lending or state-backed loans.

The company, part of India's Tata Motors , axed 450 jobs last week due to falling demand.

"We are clearly in very difficult times, in difficult trading conditions," Chief Executive David Smith told Sky News.

"Unfortunately, what we've got now is a situation where consumers aren't spending and banks aren't lending, so it's a double whammy.

"Somebody needs to put oil back into the engine in my view and really the only people who can do that are the government."

Smith said the auto industry will meet with the government next week to discuss options on how to protect jobs and boost demand.

"The industry is not asking for bailouts or anything like that. What the industry is actually asking for is two very simple things: let's try and find ways to get demand moving again ... and then we need credit flowing again."

"What we actually want is for government to help us get funding flowing back into the industry again either through direct commercial loans or the government may have to provide loan guarantees."

Smith said he would also like the government to consider short-term funding to subsidise layoffs similar to those being requested in the Netherlands by Tata's Anglo-Dutch steel production unit Corus .

Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in June last year for about $2.3 billion (S$3.4 billion). The company has four sites in the West Midlands region and one at Halewood, northwest England.