[shortbread]

A lot of chatter about JLR a.k.a Tata Motors and another brand to joining the fray!

One rumor emanates from Bloomberg about acquiring another luxury brand:

- The company has been holding internal discussions on buying other brands to diversify the range of vehicles it sells, the people said. It will consider purchases of luxury marques that fit with its current portfolio.

- Tata Motors had amassed 397.6 billion rupees ($6.1 billion) of cash and equivalents at the end of June, up 87 percent from a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That’s the second biggest among listed Indian companies, trailing Reliance Industries Ltd.

- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is considering options including a plan to spin off the Maserati and Alfa Romeo sports-car brands in order to sharpen its focus on mass-market vehicles, people familiar with the discussions said in August.

- Jaguar will begin selling its I-PACE electric-powered sports utility vehicle next year, and already has 25,000 orders for it, company Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said this month.


A totally different line of thought is about a new 'Road Rover' an electric sub-brand as reported by Autocar:

- Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will stun the automotive world by launching a new model line, the Road Rover, before the end of the decade. The first production vehicle will be a premium all-electric model, aimed primarily at markets such as California in the US and China.

- The first Road Rover is understood to be a Mercedes-Benz S-Class rival in terms of outright luxury and interior craftsmanship but with some ‘all-terrain’ capability. The car will also be tuned for impressive on-road dynamic performance, taking advantage of the potential delivered by electric motors.

Sources:

Bloomberg

Autocar


Whatever it is something interesting is being cooked up at TML!

[shortbread]

Ok, putting my neck on the line!

I have a sneaky suspicion McLaren could soon be under the Tata umbrella. It kind of joins the dots, mid-engined supercars which complements Jag's front engined rear wheel drive cars and Land Rovers SUV's. Plus they have major R&D prowess and saves JLR from paying millions to Williams Advanced Engineering Ltd every time for engineering consulting!

I suspect McLarens F1 operations will need a major cash boost now having to buy Renault customer engines and loose millions of Honda money. Plus their supercar operations will need a mainstream car maker backing into the future. Makes no sense to invest all the money on alternative powertrains for a niche car maker!

This is mere speculation by yours truly, albeit I have given my points for the same.

[greenhorn]

My Money is on alfa romeo.
Mclaren is a halo brand, and would make sense only if Jaguar was running on borrowed ford R&D, and that roadmap/pipeline has run out, and they need capability on new tech like hybrid etc, and mclaren is available cheap, but as a vehicle brand - not sure it would be of much use.

My money is on Alfa Romeo. Fiat is looking to sell, and JLR is in all probability looking for a way to move further down the market without diluting its existing brand and margins. Alfa would give it access to platforms and engines and complements Jaguar's sporty heritage as sort of a junior jaguar (maserati and jaguar would be redundant, as it would choke the space for upward expansion of jaguar)

But not very sure how the italians ( or the brits) would be with a brit co owning an italian one. I think it would better if it were acquired directly by tata motors, and integrated gradually with JLR

[volkman10]

Rumours are widespread that Tata Motors will consider purchases of luxury marques that fit with its current portfolio.

Bloomberg highlights that Fiat Chrysler’s Maserati and Alfa Romeo divisions are prime candidates, but such a scenario won’t happen in the near future.
The reason is Sergio Marchionne’s recent comment on the House of the Trident and the most over-hyped Italian automaker of them all, saying that the two automakers are too immature to be ousted from FCA for big money.

If Tata Motors somehow manages to get its hand on Maserati, Alfa Romeo, or Ducati, then the most likely course of action is to put the automaker under the control of Jaguar Land Rover

Tata Motors is also interested in “purchases of technology companies that would boost the company’s efforts to roll out electric vehicles and autonomous driving systems

Link

[GTO]

I frankly doubt it. Jaguar-Land Rover are giving Tata all the success it could desire in the luxury segment, and the two still have a lot of headroom for growth. Tata also has its hands full with commercial vehicles, the Indian passenger car business etc. I don't think there's any money or management bandwidth for acquiring another luxury brand.

However, if they had to, Aston Martin could be a contender. It's got immense brand recognition and is a financial weakling. At the right price (pocket change for Tata), the current investors would easily sell it off. One could increase the brand's volumes by moving a little lower down the food chain.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by GTO

However, if they had to, Aston Martin could be a contender. It's got immense brand recognition and is a financial weakling. At the right price (pocket change for Tata), the current investors would easily sell it off. One could increase the brand's volumes by moving a little lower down the food chain.

Excellent point!
Aston and Jaguar have much deeper connections, than what is visible to the external world.
Both blossomed under the common ownership of Ford, and in that phase, Aston utilized the Jaguar XK architecture to build the DB7.

Similar, platform sharing (like VW's MLB/MQB) between Aston & Jaguar, could be achieved in today's age as well.

[shortbread]

Originally Posted by GTO

However, if they had to, Aston Martin could be a contender. It's got immense brand recognition and is a financial weakling. At the right price (pocket change for Tata), the current investors would easily sell it off. One could increase the brand's volumes by moving a little lower down the food chain.

Will not happen, Jaguar dislikes AM since the Ford days. The primary reason is they always have to play second fiddle to Aston products. There is no way Ford would allow Jaguar product to overlap and Aston product while charging a premium for the latter. Ian Callum has also said the biggest benefit of having come out of Ford control was that restrictions on its sports cars were lifted. Henceforth the likes of more powerful XKRs, CX75 concept and then the F Type were born.

Rumors say that Ratan Tata did have an opportunity at AM when the then Aston boss and Prodrive chairman David Richards approached him with the idea. But Jaguar bosses weren't interested. Jaguar develops front engined RWD sports cars, exactly the same as Aston. There would be too much product overlap.

Also AM are heavily dependent on Daimler Benz now, for electronics, power plants and the Germans also hold a minor stake! TMl can easily afford Aston but the benefits would be too little, it's R&D is weak and sales are flat lining. But I agree still a very strong brand.

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by shortbread

I have a sneaky suspicion McLaren could soon be under the Tata umbrella. It kind of joins the dots, mid-engined supercars which complements Jag's front engined rear wheel drive cars and Land Rovers SUV's. Plus they have major R&D prowess and saves JLR from paying millions to Williams Advanced Engineering Ltd every time for engineering consulting!

Originally Posted by GTO

However, if they had to, Aston Martin could be a contender. It's got immense brand recognition and is a financial weakling. At the right price (pocket change for Tata), the current investors would easily sell it off. One could increase the brand's volumes by moving a little lower down the food chain.

Thanks, even if this ends up being mere speculation, this is fun!
While Aston Martin is a storied brand, in terms of technology, they have their feet in the past rather than the future (that's even with the Mercedes/AMG contracts). The same is true of the Italians. On top of that, Maserati/Alfa continue to be dogged by reliability issues.

In that sense, McLaren might be the better compromise in terms of technology/R&D AND brand (albeit not as prestigious as Aston). They are at the bleeding edge of hybrid and battery drivetrains, and have the engineering chops for chassis design as well.

Speaking of speculation + idle thoughts: with cars moving towards electric propulsion, I wonder if it makes sense for Tata to buy (or tie-up) with a company like Dyson. They recently announced that they are interested in cars and car R&D. While some argue that Dyson just is more marketing than actual engineering, there is something to be said for their electric motor design & engineering capabilities.

[Sutripta]

Entirely off topic, but still I feel relevant - Whatever happened to Bladon?

Regards
Sutripta

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Entirely off topic, but still I feel relevant - Whatever happened to Bladon?

Not sure if they are still involved with Jaguar or the automotive industry in general. If their website is anything to go by, its Telecom jet turbine gensets.

http://www.bladonjets.com/

Jeroen

[ACM]

Somehow since Electric is the way to go in the future I feel that any investment and brand purchase should cover that aspect at least partially.

Secondly the investment has to be such that it adds to and complements JLR range.

Could be a super car brand, Aston Martin? - Would it make sense having both Jaguar and AM in the same portfolio?

[Bhatman510]

https://jalopnik.com/accidental-bill...-of-1820471805

Read this. JLR has a program that works. FF will be quite the drain.