Let's get one thing straight. Land Rover will not stick it's badge on a TATA Safari or anything like it. Land Rover will stay up market battling the likes of BMW. Jag will probably even drop the X type and push even further up market. TATA are not buying JLR to turn them into another Ford. They are buying JLR to enter the premium car sector and to access the "Rover" brand which they may well use to take on Ford. Land Rover is now reckoned to be making $1 billion dollars a year. That's impressive for a company that is investing $700 million dollars in Hybrid tech and making just 200,000 cars per annum.
Don't expect Land Rover to make traditional 4x4's either. They will make what sells for premium price tags and that will be more cars like the LRX concept and Range Rover Sport. The days of Land Rover just making cars like the Defender are over. These day's their number one rival is BMW or possibly Mercedes.
Jag is also on the UP. The XF appears to be a big hit and hopefully signals a reversal in fortunes for the brand. So for TATA fans the brand to watch is Rover. Expect the Indica V3 and future models to ship to the UK as Rovers and even be made here (as well as in India) to soak up capacity.....even Mahindra apparantly planned to make some Indian models in the UK. This isn't a lift and shift and its not about taking JLR down market, although some LR and Jag models may ALSO be made in India. It's about TATA entering the premium car sector and about TATA being reborn in Europe as Rover. It's also about TATA getting it's hands on JLR engineers. It's these guys that will make TATA motors a world power. |