Britons rush to India for the boom

Stephen Jones

Woops! Serves me right for not checking before I posted. To make things worse I made the same mistake on the Guardian. Now I'll have to try and find the thread!

Make it even more unpardonable I'd written a passage on Tata only two weeks ago for a student quiz!

They are famed for other things apart from steel of course (automotives and IT) which is my only, paltry, excuse.

shashank.aggarwal

Just for a quick update, they have now got Jaguar and Land Rover also...

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Stephen Jones

I know about the Jaguar and Land Rover deal; not sure they got a good deal there though.

Tata's reputation lies in making good value commercial vehicles -- buses, trucks and SUVs. Buying trophy companies to up the reputation smacks of decisions based on vanity to me.

brishti

TataSalt ???



:brishti

puchoo

and tea.... think they are the largest producers in India .

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Nick-H

Just think... It might have been TataSoft instead of Microsoft!

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ind_pal

That's a very simplistic argument. There are several examples of companies who have bought other companies that don't fit in with this vanity theory.

Western people still base a lot of their purchasing on vanity and not quality and value.

Jaguar and Land Rover have huge potential in developing countries.

Nick-H

A couple of dozen sales a year, yes. One sees the occasional BMW 5-series, and I think I once saw a 7-series on the roads of Chennai. A few more Mercedes.

Perhaps there are more seriously-luxury cars on the streets of Mumbai, or one of the other bigger metros --- but I doubt very much if it is Indian sales Tata is seeking.

I also doubt that this purchase has been made out of vanity. This has not been done out of spare capital: they have raised the money for the purchase from banks, which I doubt they would have have done without making an excellent case to themselves and to the lenders that the purchase would be profitable.

Of course, not all business decisions are right, especially where the British motor industry is concerned.

Just now, congratulations are due on the new baby: lets hope it works out well for the future.

CliveG

Yes just what developing countries need - gas guzzling cars and chelsea tractors.

Lies, lies and damned lies! It was mutally agreed that my lifestyle at the time was not compatible with the philosophy of the school ie - studying is a good idea. I walked before I was pushed!

ind_pal

I'll bet 10 rupees that in 10 years there will be more Jags and Land Rovers in India than UK.


Developing countries need them no more than any other country. Maybe in a few years these developing countries won't be developing countries anymore.

Question is, does the world need gas guzzlers? Of course not.

Nick-H

Notwithstanding the fact that these brands have been profitable, if there were a few more on the streets of UK now Ford might have been less keen to sell.

These very expensive vehicles, having been subject to the huge taxes levied on imported cars, will be enormously expensive in India.

But, as I said. there are a few expensive imports here. A few, and yes, a handful of these will, no doubt, join them.

capt_mahajan

My take is that there will be a shakeout at the higher end of the car market in India anyway.

In my opinion, the market for high priced vehicles in India is overstated.

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Munivar

It's more than that. Tata is the no.2 in the Indian small car market (IIRC). It also has a good presence in the SUV/MUV category (Sumo, Safari). They are looking to build their portfolio in the car segment.

Acquiring Jag and LR means access to technology. The technology in these cars are now proprietary of Tata, that they can use in their existing models...built cheap of course. Plus it is a good learning experience for them that will be invaluable to position themselves as a global player that they aim to become. There is a whole lot more (brand value, boots in the ground, dealer network, managerial and technical expertise etc) that the JLR deal adds to the Tatas.

This is not vanity at all. This is a sound business decision. Btw, I was an employee at Tata Motors for a few years.

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Munivar

Why would they import them when they now own the technology to make them ?

They will start with SKD or CKD (semi and completely knocked down units) and move on to gradually localising components. Eventually they will be making luxury cars for cheap and getting their margin in selling to this region and wherever feasible.

Nick-H

Sure, it may be that they have manufacturing and exporting them in mind.

But for the local market... forgive my cynicism, but... cut down the safety features, halve the thickness of the bodywork, one-third the number of coats of paint... maybe, to achieve a home-economy product.

Tata make cheap cars, Indians haven't really heard of Landrover or Jaguar. They've heard of Honda, Mercedes, BMW, Skoda. Yes... Skoda is a 'premium' car here.

Whatever: obviously I have no idea what they have in mind, and will be as interested as anyone to see what happens.