Category: Tata

David Smith becomes CEO of JLR
Tata has promoted the current chief financial officer, David Smith, to the position of CEO of Jaguar and Land Rover.
David Smith was managing the new group since Geoff Polites passed away on April 20. Smith started its career by joining Ford in 1983. He worked in New and Emerging Markets and was based in Turkey before joining Land Rover in July 2000 as Director of Finance.
He played a large role in reviving reviving the Jaguar and Land Rover brands and is rumoured to had helped the American carmaker to sell the Aston Martin carmaker last year.
Its mission at Jaguar and Land Rover won’t be easy as the two carmakers will have to make the transition to more fuel efficient models. However he will be helped by the agreement signed by Ford and Tata. The two companies will cooperate on developing hybrid and powertrain technology, as well as shared, global platforms.
June 3, 2008
Tata Nano in the US
Tata wants to take over the world with the future Nano and has confirmed that the cheapest car might be sold in the US.
The Indian carmaker denied a report from Conde Nast Portfolio claiming that "The model (Nano) won’t be sold in the US but has the potential to radically alter the market for manufacturers here.” A spokesman for the company said "The company has not yet finalised specific exports markets and timelines. The Nano will meet the prevalent norms of any country it is marketed in."
The spokesman, however, said that Tata will focus on launching the Nano in India first. After positioning the firm in the domestic market, the company would consider exporting the car. he added that Tata Motors usually does not export any of its products in the first few years of launch.
May 14, 2008
Renault-Nissan annouces their £1,250 car
Renault-Nissan has given the green light to the future Nano competitor due to be launched by 2011.
The news doesn’t come as a surprise as Petrol-Head regularly covered the future Nano competitors the last months. Until now, the carmaker which teams up with Bajaj Auto, was studying the feasibility to build a Nano competitor. As predicted, the future model will be sold for £1,250.
Renault-Nissan and the Indian motorcycle manufacturer will set up a new joint venture which will be 50% owned by Bajaj Auto, 25% by Renault and 25% by Nissan.
Targeting the growing Indian new vehicle market, the ultra low cost model will be made at an all-new plant to be constructed in Chakan in India with a an initial planned capacity of 400,000 units per year.
May 13, 2008
Tata Motors buys Nissan’s South African plant
Tata Motors has acquired Japanese auto giant Nissan’s Pretoria-based manufacturing plant for an undisclosed amount.
What will stop Tata’s frenzy? After unveiling the Nano, buying Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, the Indian carmaker has bought Nissan’s South African plant as part of an ambitious plan to manufacture its models in its important export markets. At this stage Tata hasn’t confirmed whether it will use this South African unit to manufacture trucks and cars like Indica and Indigo
“South Africa is a major market for us and we cater to a number of markets like Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda and Ghana,” said Tata Motors ED, commercial vehicles, Mr Telang.
Little by little, The Indian carmaker spins its web around the world by acquiring existing assets that other carmakers don’t want anymore. Ford wanted to sell Jaguar and Land Rover because of its financial situation. The Nissan plant had been unused for a while and the Japanese was happy to find a buyer. Maybe, they will regret their decision one day or maybe they hope that Tata will get into trouble by buying too much.
April 6, 2008
Tata to invest £750 million to boost production
Tata will invest £755 million to boost its production capacity in the next five years.
The Indian carmaker plans to invest £755 million into its Pune plant, add new products and build vehicle testing facilities, announced Tata Managing Director Ravi Kant at a press conference. Kant said that the investment will help to increase capacity in its Pune plant by about 40% to over 600,000 units a year.
The company has also announced that it will raise a debt of £2 billion for its local and overseas expansion plans. Tata Motors is India’s largest vehicle maker, with revenues of £3.6 billion in 2006-07.
April 1, 2008
Tata interested in Ferrari stake
In an interview with Italy’s L’Espresso weekly news magazine, Tata Chairman Ratjan Tata has revealed that he would like to buy a stake in Ferrari.
"I have two passions in my life, cars and aircraft. I have always dreamed of being able to be a fighter pilot. And I confirm the wish to participate in Ferrari’s shareholding," Tata told L’Espresso.
"Luca di Montezemolo (both Fiat and Ferrari chairman) has invited me to look around in Italy because his country offers a lot of opportunities in the design and luxury sectors," he said.
Tata has definitely a big appetite and the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover might be an opportunity to discuss with Fiat. The Italian group has shown its interest in Jaguar technology that could be used by Alfa Romeo. Rajan Tata might offer a stake in Jaguar to Fiat in exchange of a stake in Ferrari for Tata Motors.
March 10, 2008
Tata to announce Jaguar and Land Rover takeover next week
Tata will announce the takeover of the two British carmakers, Jaguar and Land Rover, next week during the Geneva Motor Show.
Ford and Tata came to an agreement after the positive talks Tata executives had with British unions. Last week Tata confirmed that it won’t sell Jaguar as soon as the takeover is done and promised not to have redundancy plans at first.
The announcement will end a tumultuous bidding between Ford and the three bidders, among them, Tata and Mahindra and Mahindra, It will also mark the end of long history and tumultuous history between Ford and Jaguar.
Future will say whether Tata has enough money in the bank to develop Land Rover and give Jaguar the status it deserves.
February 27, 2008
British union confident over Jaguar after Tata talks
Last week, Petrol-Head reported that British unions were meeting Tata executives while a rumour about the sale of Jaguar by the Indian group was spreading in the news. It appears that the meeting went rather well as union confirmed their support to Tata.
"We are confident our members’ long term future is best served by Tata," said Dave Osborne, national secretary for vehicle building at the Unite union. "They totally ruled out offloading Jaguar or building Land Rovers in India." "There’s a couple of clarifications we still need from Ford, but I don’t see any issues arising from that," he added.
He also said Tata had given assurances that engines would still be taken from Ford and that UK manufacturing would be maintained. Jaguar has about 10,000 employees at sites in Coventry, Birmingham, and Liverpool, while Land Rover employs about 9,000 in the West Midlands and Warwickshire. Unite is the main union representing workers at Land Rover and Jaguar, and has about 12,000 members there.
February 25, 2008