Posted on Tuesday 19 February 2008
Many found it puzzling when India’s Tata, a company that specializes in econo cars and commercial vehicles, announced plans to purchase a struggling luxury brand like Jaguar, but it appears there could be more to Tata’s takeover of Ford’s premium brands then first reported. Tata’s founder Ratan Tata has previously expressed his love for Land Rover, calling it the “ride of the Rajas,” but as for Jaguar latest reports claim it may be spun off soon after the takeover is finalized.
Indian carmakers are keen to develop more off-road vehicles, especially larger and more premium designs. During the early phase of bidding for Jaguar and Land Rover, rival Indian carmaker Mahindra attempted to secure the rights for Land Rover by partnering but the deal went sour. Tata it seems had the same idea. A source has revealed to Edmunds that Tata has purchased a 450-acre plot outside of Delhi to build a new factory for the manufacture Land Rover SUVs and that “Jaguar will be spun off almost immediately.”
Tata met with union officials from both British marques earlier this month but it’s not clear what was discussed. News of a further sale of Jaguar will be disappointing for unions but with great cars like the new XF and talk of even more sporty models in the works it appears Jaguar could be safe for now.
Ah! Tata’s move makes much more sense. I was worried they were going to dilute the brand and I was pretty confident they wouldn’t know what to do with Jaguar (Proton screwed up with Lotus for a decade; Lamborghini almost died before VW/Audi took it over). I don’t understand why Ford wanted to sell them as a package deal to begin with. They weren’t connected less than a decade ago. I can’t believe they’re so closely related now that they couldn’t have been sold off individually… perhaps for more cash.
Hi, did I read correctly that TATA bought 450 acres to build Land Rover factory; does it mean that we will get now indian built € 100.000,- cars? Amazing, best regards, Peter
Can’t imagine buying an Indian built Range Rover. Probably the Indian plant is for local market
As a Briton, my knickers tighten up at the thought of RR being built in India. Then again if they can build this behemoth, out of aluminium, and MORE RELIABLE, I am all for it. The limey’s have had their chance to build a reliable RR….I have own several over the years, and despite the fact that they became increasingly more beautiful, the also became increasingly a greater nightmare to maintain!
I would love to see Landrover return to their off road roots. Tough and rugged. They could easily compete with Jeep or Toyota for this market. If LR. can offer a Defender type model for under $30k, it will be a massive hit in the U.S. market. LR. could easily take a good portion of the off road enthusiast market away from Jeep and Toyota. If Tata can reinvent LR. in the image of off road, they will win big. They need to wipe away all the aristocrat crap. first.
If Tata is going to build LRs in India for the local market, then why can´t he do the same in the US. There with the low dollar and everything, installing plants to sell on the local market makes a lot of sense.