[Steeroid]

Two separate news reports, the first one all over the international media from CNBC to Edmunds.com to BBC and CNN about Tata wanting to take a stake in Pininfarina which is also setting up a design studio in Pune:

Italy's Pininfarina says India's Tata Group to participate in capital increase - News - MSNBC.com

And this one on Economic Times about Mahindra wanting to take a stake in Stile Bertone:

Mahindras have designs on Stile Bertone- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

Hey have these guys made SO MUCH $$$$ by selling us antiquated Jeeps, UVs, Trucks and Buses for so long ????????????

Seriously - it looks like it made more economic sense to keep making the same vehicles for decades than it did to keep innovating and bringing out new products.

[jkdas]

Saw about this in the news last eve.

Go India go!

[khanak]

WOW!! Looks like Tata is really serious about becoming a global player.

[deepakhon]

Tata is certainly planning big.

BTW, didn't Bertone file for bankruptcy very recently?

[Pal-leo]

They are Shopping... This only shows how positive indian market is about the future.

[Karandeep81]

They say the world has become India's platter. Hungry Kya? India Jaa

FYI : apart from the big takeovers i.e JLR, TATA has been very firey on acquisitions in the UK. many many foreign firms have now come under the TATA banner. This also holds true for many Indian firms hungry for acquisitions in this credit crunched market

[speedzak]

Another one? Oops, I mean 2!
Soon, we will get to see Tata designed Ferraris and FiATs! Any guess who will be the happiest person in the world if this comes true?

[FERRO]

@ speedzak: well even your favourate Suzuki gets some of its car designed from Italy ..... so in future you should sing something like this Tata designed Suzuki cars last long ever long.

[speedzak]

@Ferro. I am a bit too hard to satisfy kind. Suzuki isn't my favorite but just buyable in my eyes.
I love Tata, Toyota, Mercedes, Audi, Lambo, Lotus, Mclaren, Pagani, Subaru, Nissan, Rinspeed, Honda, Spyker, Morgan, Maserati, Jeep, TVR, Yamaha and a few more. It doesn't mean that I hate others. But I always tend to look for negatives in them and more positives in my love listed ones. (I think that's the way world goes or atleast many think like wise).
My favourite design house happens to be Pinninfarina because I'm not aware of many others.
If Tata takes over Pinninfarina, I would be more than happy. Imagine a day when you can happily announce that the latest Ferrari was the work of a company which is owned/managed by a guy from my home country!
Man, I need tissues now. Tsch... Tsch...

[jaysmokesleaves]

All this accumulation of international brands & technology is eventually going to trickle to India. And knowing tata's pricing strategy, im sure the indian customer will have lots to look fwd to. Wonder what it will take for Tata to ramp up its QC.

[Steeroid]

I guess you guys didnt get the drift. I really didnt mean this to be another patriotic chest-beating one...

My question is very simple - how did these companies that for years sold antiquated bits and pieces to a protected market now have the money to buy brands that other more established auto majors cannot, or do not want to?

I simply cannot understand how a company that made a Mercedes derived 1969 model truck for over 4 decades in truck and bus formats (remember we have no real BUSes - we only have bus bodies on truck chassis), and another that built WW2 jeeps in various shapes and forms with rags and pieces of plastic for passenger protection are now going around buying up some of the world's most well known brands.

Patroitic chest beating aside, isnt this at OUR expense? Didnt we suffer long distance rides in 'bus'es meant to carry WW2 era cargo? Didnt we rely on Jeep chassis meant to carry guns and 2 soldiers during WW2 to provide us with essential passenger transportation and even carry out ambulance duties sometimes?

So the question is - werent we being taken for royal rides these last few decades???

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

I guess you guys didnt get the drift. I really didnt mean this to be another patriotic chest-beating one...

My question is very simple - how did these companies that for years sold antiquated bits and pieces to a protected market now have the money to buy brands that other more established auto majors cannot, or do not want to?

I simply cannot understand how a company that made a Mercedes derived 1969 model truck for over 4 decades in truck and bus formats (remember we have no real BUSes - we only have bus bodies on truck chassis), and another that built WW2 jeeps in various shapes and forms with rags and pieces of plastic for passenger protection are now going around buying up some of the world's most well known brands.

Patroitic chest beating aside, isnt this at OUR expense? Didnt we suffer long distance rides in 'bus'es meant to carry WW2 era cargo? Didnt we rely on Jeep chassis meant to carry guns and 2 soldiers during WW2 to provide us with essential passenger transportation and even carry out ambulance duties sometimes?

So the question is - werent we being taken for royal rides these last few decades???

If you look at the balance sheets of these companies, they weren't making crazy money in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

In fact both Tata and Mahindra were bleeding with red ink for a few years in the 90s. It's only in this decade that they are having a bull run (and its in this decade that they have been spending on R&D and making somewhat newer products).

But, going further on your drift...I wonder how much money Maruti would have stockpiled over the years. They have been numero uno for 20+ years with not a single year of losses...pumping out 800s/Omnis using the same dies for 20 years. Osamu Suzuki and some GOI officialls are laughing all the way to the bank.

[MaserQ]

If only Mrs Gandhi had opened up the Indian market in the 80s, the antiquated truck and UV makers would have had to compete on level terms with international players way back then. For that matter, even HM, Premier Auto and Bajaj would have had to update their completely outdated euro/american derived technology.

Imagine, we could have been driving 3rd generation Indicas/Scorpios/Safaris. But alas, that didnt happen which renders the previous statement as complete hogwash.

I am glad in a way. For, the next generation of such cars would have british engineering, italian styling, german engine(management) and Indian ingenuity at a friendly price!

[ST7677]

Wow!!! India Auto inc in top gear...

[pjbiju]

Tata, Mahindra and others kept selling us old and antique pieces of automotive specimen till the economy was opened up and there was some competition. That is when these companies started with their own R&D centers with some serious work. Had the government not allowed other car manufacturers to start selling their models in India, many of us would have been driving a Jeep or a Sumo/Sierra/Tata Estate. These companies also did not make a lot of money those days because they worked below their efficiency (at all levels) and they did not bother about that because they simply had no competition. I am sure both Tata and the Mahindras are also making a lot of money from their software arms which in turn helps their core business.