Jaguar starts making money

Here's some good news from the UK auto industry. Jaguar Land Rover has announced a net profit of £55m (US$140.7 million)in the last three months of 2009. The profit came from increased sales (more than 165,000 models)outside the UK. The biggest markets were Russia, Europe, North America and China.


Other related links:

• Tata Motors profits boosted by Jaguar Land Rover
• Jaguar Starts Making Money for Tata Motors
• Jaguar Land Rover makes £55m in return to profit

Tata secures loan to develop electric cars

The Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC), which is based in the University of Warwick Campus has secured a £10 million loan from British Government to produce a four seater electric car. Tata Motors will pump in a further £25 million.

The car which is based on the Tata Indica Vista is expected to go into production by the end of this year.


The Tata Indica Vista

TMETC was set up in the UK in 2005 as a 100% subsidiary of Tata Motors. The centre is engaged in design engineering and the development of products for the automotive industry.

Pininfarina family stake to be sold - Tata potential suitor

Pincar, the company owned by the Pininfarina family may sell its majority stake in troubled design house and coachbuilder Pininfarina. Through Pincar the family holds a majority stake of 50.7%. Selling the piece is a decision taken at a board meeting last week and was part of a debt agreement made with the banks in 2008. The end result would be that Pincar would no longer be the majority owner but at the same time the family would not leave the business completely.


A number of well-known industry names have been touted as possible new partners. One of them is Tata which owns the Tata Motors, Jaguar and Land Rover brands. The Indian company has an existing alliance with Fiat and was mentioned as an investor last year. Being closely related to Pininfarina, a company that has designed some of the most striking Ferraris and Maseratis in the past would certainly give Tata a boost in its design department.


Another possible partner is said to be Bolloré, the French industrial company. Pininfarina is working with them to develop an electric car dubbed, Bluecar. In 2008 founder Vincent Bolloré expressed an interest in becoming one of the shareholders at Pininfarina.


Could Ford also be in the mix? The Italian brand builds the Focus Coupe Cabriolet for the blue oval while another agreement sees it producing the Volvo C70 at a plant in Uddevalla, Sweden.
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Tata Nano launch today

Tata Nano the World's cheapest car will be commercially launched today.



Watch the 10 things you should know about the Tata Nano slideshow on the Time site.

Go to the Tata Nano microsite for more information about the car.

Tata to create 700 jobs in the UK

Indian car maker, Tata recently announced a £ 700 million investment plan with the creation of 600 jobs at Jaguar Land Rover. It is also launching a new programme to recruit new graduate engineers in September. That's great news for the Midlands.

I have no idea why but unlike other companies, there is absolutely no news about this in both the Jaguar or the Land Rover sites. Only got to read bout it in the local newspaper.

The Tata, Jaguar, Land Rover Deal in the news

Lord Bhattacharyya, who founded the Warwick Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick says “How often do two such icons come up for sale at the same time? Land Rover is now sustainably profitable and you are about to see a renaissance of Jaguar,". Read "Tata, Jaguar and Land Rover. Now what?"

Analysts think it's not a good deal. "Tata's Jaguar Deal Worries Analysts".

Investors are apparently worried as well with the company falling a few points on the Bombay Stock Exchange. "Tata Motors plunges 5 pc post JLR deal".

Definitely Tata will face several management challenges. Read "Can Tata Rev Up Jaguar?"

Tata, Ford, Jaguar and Land Rover

It's official - Ford has sold Jaguar and Land Rover to the Indian Tata Group for $2.3 billion (approx. £1.15bn). Read the BBC report: Tata buys Jaguar in £1.15bn deal
and the Tata Group's press release: Tata Motors enters into definitive agreement with Ford for purchase of Jaguar Land Rover.

Tata doesn't expect any "significant changes" to Jaguar or Land Rover employees' terms of employment, meaning that jobs are safe. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.

Wonder whether the Indians can finally make Jaguar profitable again.

Tata Nano - the World's cheapest car launched

As promised earlier, India's Tata Motors Ltd today unveiled the world's cheapest car at the 9th Auto Expo show in New Delhi, India.

Dubbed the "people's car", the four-door Tata Nano costs only Rs 100,000 (about $2,500/ £1,300).

It is powered by a 33-bhp 624 cc rear-wheel drive, all-aluminium, two-cylinder, multi-point fuel injection petrol engine. According to reports, the car gives about 23 km per litre of petrol.


The Standard version

It is definitely a no-frills car with no air conditioning, no power windows or power steering and comes with only one wing mirror. The dash board only has a speedometer, a fuel gauge and an oil-warning light.


The Luxury version

It is expected to be in dealers' showrooms by September.

Read their press release.

It seems that there were some "Protests over 'World's cheapest car' by Tata" as well.

Tata set to take over Jaguar, Land Rover

Tata Motors, a subsidiary of the Indian Tata group is set to take over British luxury marques Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.

Ford stands to make around £1 billion (about $2.05 billion / Rs 8,000 crore) from the sale.

Tata won over two other bidders , namely, Indian car company, Mahindra & Mahindra and American private equity group, One Equity.

If it works out, this will be the first time ever that an Indian company has taken over a Western auto company.

Jaguar dealers in the US are worried that the take over might hurt the brand image. Ken Gorin, chairman of the Jaguar Business Operations Council, reportedly said:

I don't believe the US public is ready for ownership out of India of a luxury car make...

Read "Tata hits image problems in the U.S."