Tata new owner of Jaguar and Land Rover

[Ferrer]

Bye, Jaguar, bye, Land Rover...

Why? They still haven't doen anything. Perhaps it's a bit early to judge Tata's efforts.

[faksta]

Why? They still haven't doen anything. Perhaps it's a bit early to judge Tata's efforts.

Maybe you're right. But still I don't think it is a right decision to let eastern countries own [legendary] British makes. Chinese have Rover and MG (haven't seen any new models, by the way - they only present those 75- and TF-based cars constantly). They won't make them in right direction.
Indeed, trying to gain more money is not always the proper way.

[Ferrer]

Maybe. But I don't think it is a right decision to let eastern countries own [legendary] British makes. Chinese have Rover and MG (haven't seen any new models, by the way - they only present those 75- and TF-based cars constantly). They won't make them in right direction.
Indeed, trying to gain more money is not always the proper way.

Well, I think it's fair to say that Rover ruined themselves without any need for overseas aid. In fact we could even say that Rover's death (and that of the british owned mainstream automotive industry) started in 1968 with the foundation of BL.

But anyway, Aston Martin is partly owned by a Middle East consortium and I don't see anyone complaining or it being such big problem that Aston Martin is going to close its doors next week. Furthermore Ford hasn't exactly done a brilliant job with Jaguar either, so I wonder how Tata could actually do worse than them.

I'd say that as long as the right person is in charge and that sufficient resources are available Jaguar (and Land Rover) will flourish, regardless of who owns them. And furthermore Fiat will be acting as a consultant for Tata in order to help them with Jaguar and LR.

[go.pawel]

Am I the only person who does not know anything about Tata except they are an Indian company?

I don't know if you're the only one, but I can enlighten you a bit

Tata Group is India's biggest company (conglomerate actually). It consists of 98 companies (engineering, materials, chemicals, IT, services, energy, consumer goods) and operates in 85 countries on all continents (syko, you said something about being a small fry when it comes to global markets :P ). It's responsible for over 3% of India's GDP. Tata-Tetley is the world's second largest manufacturer and distributor of tea, Tata Steel is the world's fifth largest steel producer.
Tata Motors, the motorcar part of the group, is the world's 5th largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles. In 2004 it bought the truck part of Daewoo.
The company doesn't have much experience with personal vehicles, not to mention high-end products, but that's why they need Jaguar & LR. It's a common business practice when you need know-how and presence in new market segments, to simply buy well established companies already present there, instead of spending millions over years trying to find your way in.

[SPM]

But anyway, Aston Martin is partly owned by a Middle East consortium and I don't see anyone complaining or it being such big problem that Aston Martin is going to close its doors next week. Furthermore Ford hasn't exactly done a brilliant job with Jaguar either, so I wonder how Tata could actually do worse than them.

I'd say that as long as the right person is in charge and that sufficient resources are available Jaguar (and Land Rover) will flourish, regardless of who owns them. And furthermore Fiat will be acting as a consultant for Tata in order to help them with Jaguar and LR.

One of the problems with Ford/JLR, BMW/Rover, Daimler/Chrysler etc. takeovers which have failed is the duplication of overlapping models which makes it difficult to concentrate on producing a best model for each segment of the market. Tata has the advantage of absolutely no overlap with JLR - Tata does make a 4x4 and a pickup, but they are agricultural/construction rather than lifestyle SUVs. This should make Tata's integration efforts much simpler.

One of Ford's mistakes with JLR was to put Ford's economy car switch and instrument components into Jaguars and Landrovers. When customers realize that their £50,000 Jaguar has the same components as the Mondeo courtesy car they are given when it is being services, they are not too impressed. Fiat will not so much be acting as a consultant for Tata as sharing components and platforms with Tata/JLR. In other words, Jaguar vehicles are likely to be sharing components with Ferrari, Maserati, and Alpha Romeo, and Fiat has been talking of using the Jaguar platform for a rear wheel drive Alpha Romeo. Fiat also has no decent 4x4. Fiat licensing Landrover platforms for their own vehicles is a great likelyhood (Fiat already license builds Fiat badged Tata Xeon 4x4 pickups in Argentina for the South American market, and will export them to Europe from there soon).

If Tata manages JLR like they have every one of their other divisions and aquisitions like Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, Corus, Tetley Tea etc, they will put a trustee in to monitor and supervise the division, but the division will pretty well manage and run itself. What Tata will do is try to grow each division by using their other division's marketing and distribution network, and make use of each division's manufacturing capacity to complement the others.

For example, Daewoo make trucks with high horsepower for fast roads, while in India Tata makes lower powered heavy trucks for slow roads and a large range of smaller commercial vehicles. What Tata has done with Daewoo is to design and produce high powered trucks and components for export and knock down assembly in India and other countries, and provided medium and light commercial vehicle models for assembly in Korea. As a result, Daewoo CV has increased it's production by 30% in the last two years, it's share of the medium CV market in Korea has gone from zero to 35% market share in one year, and from virtually zero exports in heavy commercial vehicles before takeover, it is now responsible for two thirds of Korea's heavy commercial vehicle exports.

Another example is Corus, which was being squeezed by the likes of Mittal steel, the world's largest steel producer, which took over second largest Arcelor recently. Tata is using it's ownership of iron ore mines in India which along with Brazil produce the world's cheapest iron ore, to secure low cost iron ore for Corus so that it can remain competitive. Tata also ships steel ingots both ways to take advantage specialty steel production capability, and cope with high demand for steel in India.

Apparently Tata doesn't just buy companies and think about what to do with it once they acquire it, like western companies seem to do. They look very carefully first at the fit to make sure there is no redundancy or duplication in what they are buying, and they have the future strategy planned out well before they buy.

Some other interesting links:
Tata Group | Tata Group worldwide | Across Asia | A perfect fit
Tata Group | Tata Motors | Articles | On the fast track
Tata charts strategy for Korean market-Intl Business-Business-The Times of India
Fiat chief: Alfa Romeo could benefit from Tata-Jaguar acquisition - Hip Hop SiX Arcade & Community. HipHopSiX.com - HipHop's Playground!
Alfa-Romeo 169 - Top Speed

[Kitdy]

One of the problems with Ford/JLR, BMW/Rover, Daimler/Chrysler etc. takeovers which have failed is the duplication of overlapping models which makes it difficult to concentrate on producing a best model for each segment of the market. Tata has the advantage of absolutely no overlap with JLR - Tata does make a 4x4 and a pickup, but they are agricultural/construction rather than lifestyle SUVs. This should make Tata's integration efforts much simpler.

One of Ford's mistakes with JLR was to put Ford's economy car switch and instrument components into Jaguars and Landrovers. When customers realize that their £50,000 Jaguar has the same components as the Mondeo courtesy car they are given when it is being services, they are not too impressed. Fiat will not so much be acting as a consultant for Tata as sharing components and platforms with Tata/JLR. In other words, Jaguar vehicles are likely to be sharing components with Ferrari, Maserati, and Alpha Romeo, and Fiat has been talking of using the Jaguar platform for a rear wheel drive Alpha Romeo. Fiat also has no decent 4x4. Fiat licensing Landrover platforms for their own vehicles is a great likelyhood (Fiat already license builds Fiat badged Tata Xeon 4x4 pickups in Argentina for the South American market, and will export them to Europe from there soon).

If Tata manages JLR like they have every one of their other divisions and aquisitions like Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, Corus, Tetley Tea etc, they will put a trustee in to monitor and supervise the division, but the division will pretty well manage and run itself. What Tata will do is try to grow each division by using their other division's marketing and distribution network, and make use of each division's manufacturing capacity to complement the others.

For example, Daewoo make trucks with high horsepower for fast roads, while in India Tata makes lower powered heavy trucks for slow roads and a large range of smaller commercial vehicles. What Tata has done with Daewoo is to design and produce high powered trucks and components for export and knock down assembly in India and other countries, and provided medium and light commercial vehicle models for assembly in Korea. As a result, Daewoo CV has increased it's production by 30% in the last two years, it's share of the medium CV market in Korea has gone from zero to 35% market share in one year, and from virtually zero exports in heavy commercial vehicles before takeover, it is now responsible for two thirds of Korea's heavy commercial vehicle exports.

Another example is Corus, which was being squeezed by the likes of Mittal steel, the world's largest steel producer, which took over second largest Arcelor recently. Tata is using it's ownership of iron ore mines in India which along with Brazil produce the world's cheapest iron ore, to secure low cost iron ore for Corus so that it can remain competitive. Tata also ships steel ingots both ways to take advantage specialty steel production capability, and cope with high demand for steel in India.

Apparently Tata doesn't just buy companies and think about what to do with it once they acquire it, like western companies seem to do. They look very carefully first at the fit to make sure there is no redundancy or duplication in what they are buying, and they have the future strategy planned out well before they buy.

Some other interesting links:
Tata Group | Tata Group worldwide | Across Asia | A perfect fit
Tata Group | Tata Motors | Articles | On the fast track
Tata charts strategy for Korean market-Intl Business-Business-The Times of India
Fiat chief: Alfa Romeo could benefit from Tata-Jaguar acquisition - Hip Hop SiX Arcade & Community. HipHopSiX.com - HipHop's Playground!
Alfa-Romeo 169 - Top Speed

Welcome to UCP SPM, very informative first post. Hopefully this is the first of many!

[siriusly]

One of the problems with Ford/JLR, BMW/Rover, Daimler/Chrysler etc. takeovers which have failed is the duplication of overlapping models which makes it difficult to concentrate on producing a best model for each segment of the market. Tata has the advantage of absolutely no overlap with JLR - Tata does make a 4x4 and a pickup, but they are agricultural/construction rather than lifestyle SUVs. This should make Tata's integration efforts much simpler.

One of Ford's mistakes with JLR was to put Ford's economy car switch and instrument components into Jaguars and Landrovers. When customers realize that their £50,000 Jaguar has the same components as the Mondeo courtesy car they are given when it is being services, they are not too impressed. Fiat will not so much be acting as a consultant for Tata as sharing components and platforms with Tata/JLR. In other words, Jaguar vehicles are likely to be sharing components with Ferrari, Maserati, and Alpha Romeo, and Fiat has been talking of using the Jaguar platform for a rear wheel drive Alpha Romeo. Fiat also has no decent 4x4. Fiat licensing Landrover platforms for their own vehicles is a great likelyhood (Fiat already license builds Fiat badged Tata Xeon 4x4 pickups in Argentina for the South American market, and will export them to Europe from there soon).

If Tata manages JLR like they have every one of their other divisions and aquisitions like Daewoo Commercial Vehicles, Corus, Tetley Tea etc, they will put a trustee in to monitor and supervise the division, but the division will pretty well manage and run itself. What Tata will do is try to grow each division by using their other division's marketing and distribution network, and make use of each division's manufacturing capacity to complement the others.

For example, Daewoo make trucks with high horsepower for fast roads, while in India Tata makes lower powered heavy trucks for slow roads and a large range of smaller commercial vehicles. What Tata has done with Daewoo is to design and produce high powered trucks and components for export and knock down assembly in India and other countries, and provided medium and light commercial vehicle models for assembly in Korea. As a result, Daewoo CV has increased it's production by 30% in the last two years, it's share of the medium CV market in Korea has gone from zero to 35% market share in one year, and from virtually zero exports in heavy commercial vehicles before takeover, it is now responsible for two thirds of Korea's heavy commercial vehicle exports.

Another example is Corus, which was being squeezed by the likes of Mittal steel, the world's largest steel producer, which took over second largest Arcelor recently. Tata is using it's ownership of iron ore mines in India which along with Brazil produce the world's cheapest iron ore, to secure low cost iron ore for Corus so that it can remain competitive. Tata also ships steel ingots both ways to take advantage specialty steel production capability, and cope with high demand for steel in India.

Apparently Tata doesn't just buy companies and think about what to do with it once they acquire it, like western companies seem to do. They look very carefully first at the fit to make sure there is no redundancy or duplication in what they are buying, and they have the future strategy planned out well before they buy.

Some other interesting links:
Tata Group | Tata Group worldwide | Across Asia | A perfect fit
Tata Group | Tata Motors | Articles | On the fast track
Tata charts strategy for Korean market-Intl Business-Business-The Times of India
Fiat chief: Alfa Romeo could benefit from Tata-Jaguar acquisition - Hip Hop SiX Arcade & Community. HipHopSiX.com - HipHop's Playground!
Alfa-Romeo 169 - Top Speed

Thank you posting this well informed post. I've been reading much on news sites that have either a complete lack of knowledge of what kind of experience Tata has and how big the company actually is.

[LandQuail]

Jaguar... Land Rover...

... no. not like this. not sold to the lowest of high bidders like so much week-old bread shuffled out the back door for the street urchins i no why for?

should have just got everyone together queen at jim clark's grave to give the final terrible order and ageing ecurie ecosse team wheeled out for one last go every dealership in the uk emptied all cars at some open space in coventry all factorynew jags gathered for one last show just solemly ceremonially unplug the oil return line and crank them all up and wait for the end as bagpipes play amazing grace over and over until the last engine let it be an xk stumbles stutters

and siezes

the beginning of the end came for jaguar almost three decades ago

it's the final act now the grim swansong where the leaping cat is affixed again for the last time to a bumbled heap

just let it go let's all just make sure we stick around tearfully for the closing credits