India's Tata, one of the world's biggest automakers you've never heard of, is headed to cross the finish line first in the "quiet" worldwide auction being staged by Ford Motor Company to take-over both Jag and Land Rover. The news might hit the wires here in the US later tonight (12/20/07) or early tomorrow morning, but it's almost a "slam dunk". Well, maybe not that "for certain", but all signs and comments in the press point to two of the most historic vehicle makers being gobbled up by a company based in India.
And the irony is there for all to see; US car-buyers, beginning in the late 1950s, not more than 20 years since the end of WWII hostilities, have helped German and Japanese car-makers become some of the most high-quality and consistent in the world. Now, moving to the "subcontinent" of India, which was the so-called "Jewel In The Crown" of the UK's worldwide Commonwealth, is home to a company which will apparently, within hours, become the owners of two of their former "occupiers" most famous names. And yes, this is a real irony, not a mere coincidence (in answer to all those English teachers visiting this site looking for mistakes).
(Photos --- Jaguar and Land Rover both headed to India?).
Tata is a huge vehicle-maker, yet we've never seen their products on this side of the world, in our particular spot of North America. Tata Motors was established in 1945, when the company began making trains. Tata Motors was first listed on the NY Stock Exchange in 2004. Tata is India’s largest automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturing company. It is also the world's 5th largest commercial vehicle manufacturer. It is part of the Tata Group, and is headquartered in Mumbai. In 2004 it also bought Daewoo’s truck manufacturing unit in South Korea (while GM was busy buying the car-making part of Daewoo).
Tata has a workforce of 22,000 employees in three plants and other offices across the country. Tata 
Motors' range of passenger cars is still not complete by international standards. In commercial vehicles, Tata Motors commands an amazing 65% market share in their home market. That’s similar to the market share which Toyota enjoys in the cities surrounding their headquarters in Toyota City, which is near Nagoya, about 300 miles south of Tokyo. (Photo --- Tata Elegante).
The company has had plans for years to build a car that will cost under $2500, and now they are in the process of making that long-held dream come true. Ratan Tata of Tata Motors says the company's planned under-$2,500 car also will emit "less pollution per vehicle than any other vehicle in (India) today." He was responding to criticism from environmentalists that the availability of ultra-cheap cars will lead to more traffic congestion.
With the Times of London reporting that Tata is one of the finalists in the bidding for Ford's Land Rover and Jaguar units, Thomas Stallkamp, a former Chrysler executive now with a U.S. private-equity firm, Ripplewood, was quoted as saying: "I don't understand how a company that's going to make cars for $2,000 can also sell cars for $120,000." Stallkamp might have made that statement out of some degree of jealousy; Stallkamp's firm was reportedly knocked out of contention for the purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover. (Photo --- Tata Indica).
But Stallkamp does absolutely make sense. Indeed, how can a car company which specializes in small family cars, and we mean really small as well as being traditionally underpowered, be able to produce, market and sell cars and trucks which have a base price of over $40,000. Or to even oversee their production, marketing and sales, which will probably be what Tata wants to do if their bids for Jag and Land Rover get them the outfits.
Now that the future of Tata is embroiled with the futures of both Jaguar and Land Rover (if the sale goes through), our guess is that most executives at most car companies would not look forward to being involved with such a jarring change in their company’s culture. One can always hire the “right” people to run your entire company, or even a small division within that company. (Photo --- Tata Sumo...and no kidding about that name).
But with Tata a car and truck-maker unto themselves, there are probably enough execs in the company
who think they can easily make the transition from just finishing-up development of a $2,500 car for the masses, then jump right into Jag and Rover production, barely missing a step. Yeah … right. We wish them luck, because everyone wants to see Jaguar and Land Rover succeed and prosper. But if Tata isn’t about to announce that they are stealing a bunch of executives from, say, General Motors and/or Toyota, or BMW and/or Mercedes-Benz, or any other of the world’s best car-makers, we frankly don’t see how they are going to succeed with the much-beloved Brit makes.
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