Tata Motors fancying Jaguar, Land Rover?

[Tstag]

Originally Posted by sreedotk

Considering that the Premier Auto Group of which J-LR is a party the biggest money earner is Volvo followed by Land Rover.

Actually that's all changed. According to the latest reports Jag has stopped making losses, thanks to pre-orders for the XF and Land Rover made about a billion dollars last year! Volvo is rumored to have lost half a billion dollars last year.

Suddenly JLR is looking like a strong company. Hence I jokily posted that TATA were asset stripping Ford......

[ajmat]

Extract from today's www.ft.com. It is a subscription article so cannot reproduce whole thing:

Jaguar’s management is “entirely relaxed” about the prospect of the carmaker’s takeover by India’s Tata group and believes it will allow Jaguar and Land Rover – which is also part of the sale – to develop unfettered, one of the luxury car maker’s most senior executives told the Financial Times.

Ian Callum, the director of design who is responsible for the new XF and XK model ranges that carry Jaguar’s hopes of returning to profitability, said: “We have shown Tata our new model lines and the planned product cycle. The two national cultures appear to fit together very well and Tata is being very respectful about what we are doing.”

article goes on to say that the Jaguar folks were totally against the X typre so it was designed in Detroit and thrust on Jaguar

[Thad E Ginathom]

Errr... What's the price of a Landrover, especially if imported? What's the price of a Sumo?

[ajitkommini]

Originally Posted by katalysm76

If Tata takes over Landrover then the cars that londrover produces will provide competition for the Suv's like Sumo grande,which Tata manufactures here.

I highly doubt that. Land Rover manufactures a wide range of vehicles - mostly in the premium SUV segment. Sumo etc. are just not in the same class as any of their offerings

[jayguar]

Originally Posted by katalysm76

If Tata takes over Landrover then the cars that londrover produces will provide competition for the Suv's like Sumo grande,which Tata manufactures here.

Even if Landrover is made in India, it would be much expensive than Sumo Grande, leave alone the features in both the SUVs

[1orren1]

Tough call, if any of the two brands are made in India they might suffer a serious image crisis globally.

The Rover City made by Tata was a total flop in the UK though it wasn't entirely Tata's fault.

[bigman]

Originally Posted by 1orren1

Tough call, if any of the two brands are made in India they might suffer a serious image crisis globally.

The Rover City made by Tata was a total flop in the UK though it wasn't entirely Tata's fault.

The Rover City flop was all down to TATA. The finish was poor, nothing Rover could do about that. TATA need to sit down get a few skilled people (with experience) looking at and improving quality. Without the quality they will get no where.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Whatever it was like, the failure of Rover to convince the public that it had a future (it didn't) would have mattered just as much.

[Tstag]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Whatever it was like, the failure of Rover to convince the public that it had a future (it didn't) would have mattered just as much.

It was both their faults. Rover should have redesigned the car to a higher spec. TATA should have built it to a higher quality. Rover's excuse were they had no money to redesign it. What was TATA's?

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by bigman

The Rover City flop was all down to TATA. The finish was poor, nothing Rover could do about that. TATA need to sit down get a few skilled people (with experience) looking at and improving quality. Without the quality they will get no where.

Tata never had any intention of selling the Indica to the developed markets. Rover came along and offered to buy a certain volume for a certain price. Tata could not make money by improving the finish further. Rover went on to buy the canr, slap a Rover badge on and sell a low quality car for a premium price which was suicide.

Ideally, Rover should have walked and not touched the indica

[esteem_lover]

can we get to see the rover 2000 again ?

[hondadude]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Extract from today's www.ft.com. It is a subscription article so cannot reproduce whole thing:

It is in Economic Times today. Check it out

[spawnofsatan]

If Tata's takeover the british companys will the sell them cheaper in india?

[Bimster]

Looks like the deal is as good as done.Tata is likley to leave JLR alone is the UK,except for revamping senior management at this point.No production wont shift to India (atleast for time being)and Tata should be mad to sell any of these cars any cheaper than the Germans do.Brighter side though-they can use older platforms(X/S type,Defender) to make some doog cars in India and over all qaality of all Tata cars will improve from lessons learned.
For JLR,I dont think Indian ownership will impact negatively as long as they bring out good cars with the money Tata will pump in.

[hondadude]

Source

DETROIT: Ford Motor Company and India's Tata Motors Ltd are nearing an agreement for Tata to buy Jaguar and Land Rover, according to a person who has been briefed on the negotiations.

The deal is likely to be announced in February, perhaps as early as next week, but could be as late as the Geneva Motor Show in early March, the person said.

Ford Chief Financial Officer Don Leclair said last week the company does not plan to keep a stake in the storied British automakers.

"Our plan right now is to sell the business in its entirety," Leclair said in a telephone interview with British newspaper the Financial Times. Ford spokesman Bill Collins confirmed the quote as accurate.

Tata, which recently announced plans to build a $ 2,500 car in India, was named the prime bidder for the upscale Jaguar and Land Rover units earlier this month, besting two other finalists, Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and US private equity firm One Equity Partners LLC.

The person briefed on the talks, who requested anonymity because the negotiations are private, said Tata and Ford are negotiating an agreement for Ford to keep supplying engines and other technology to Jaguar and Land Rover.

Ford maintained a small stake last year when it sold controlling interest in Aston Martin, the sports car brand immortalized in James Bond films. Ford sold the automaker to holding company Primrose Cove Ltd, receiving $ 848 million but retaining a $ 77 million stake.

The person briefed on the talks said Ford kept the stake in Aston Martin because it didn't have supply agreements similar to those being negotiated with Tata.