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India Tata Motors Buys Jag and Land Rover

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Old 12-22-07, 01:39 AM
  #31  
splitfire
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no body care about jags anyways... people who want british luxury car all buy bentleys now... overhere continantial gt and flying spur are everywhere but i have not seen 1 jags in like months...they only one i saw was sitting at dealership with major discount. it is a brand no one really care...
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Old 12-24-07, 06:49 PM
  #32  
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Indians reppin.. what can I say.. we're all over the place.. especially microsoft ..
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Old 12-24-07, 06:56 PM
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Originally Posted by O. L. T.
Unbelievable that Jaguar is owned by India. Think of it's roots and prestige and how it has came long through the years of snobbish luxury......... now it's owned by India.

lol you trying to say indians dont know what luxury is?

bad news buddy.. look at half the doctors across america... look at the engineers... and all the software guys at microsoft.. a GOOD MAJORITY of em are indian..

what are they driving.. mercedes... lexus.. porsche.. bently.. maserati's

****.. im only 18 and I got a lexus (2nd car) ... I think im off to a heck of a good start... just like the rest of us. Parents got an S550 E350 and we got a 528i

lol I aint braggin.. just making a point. just cuz INDIA.. bought out jag and land rover.. doesnt mean the names will go to ****.
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Old 12-24-07, 08:17 PM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by NINEZeRO
I would never buy a car from a car company called Tata. It just wouldn't feel right. "Hey wanna ride in my Tata X300"
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Old 12-24-07, 08:19 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by Hartawan
At least when you call customer service, it will be direct from the factory
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Old 12-24-07, 09:30 PM
  #36  
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all you guys think jaguar and land rover going tata is bad cause you guys dont know any better..........same thing was said about toyota back in the fifties....japan makes cars!! ...look were they are now....wait and see friends!!
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Old 01-03-08, 12:59 PM
  #37  
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Looks like the posts from the summer were premature. But Ford is definitely making noises like Tata will be the new parent of Jaguar and Land Rover.

Tata picked as top Jaguar bidder By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer

An Indian car maker that will unveil the world's cheapest car next week may soon produce two of the world's premier brands as well.

Ford Motor Co. named Tata Motors Ltd. the top bidder for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands Thursday and entered into "focused negotiations at a more detailed level," meaning Tata was named preferred bidder for the storied British automakers.

"While no final decision has been made, we will proceed with further substantive discussions with Tata Motors over the forthcoming weeks," Lewis Booth, executive vice president of Ford's European units, said in a statement.

Jaguar and Land Rover employees in the United Kingdom were told about the negotiations Thursday morning shortly before the company made the announcement.

Ford executives have said they expect sell the two British automakers early this year.

Ford spokesman Jay Ward in London would not say how much Tata bid for the automakers, nor would he say if two other bidders, Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and U.S. private equity firm One Equity Partners LLC, still were in the running. Last month people close to the negotiations with Ford told the AP that potential suitors had submitted bids for both companies that ranged from $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

A person briefed on the negotiations said Thursday that Mahindra and One Equity still were under consideration, although Tata is the likely buyer.

"Ford hasn't told them to go away, and that's the end of it," the person told The Associated Press. "Tata's emerged as the preferred partner."

The person requested anonymity because the talks are confidential.

Mumbai-based Tata Motors confirmed the negotiations Thursday.

"We are now entering a period of more focused and detailed negotiations with Ford. We hope both parties can reach an agreement in the forthcoming weeks, though these are complex discussions and there is still much work that needs to be done before that position is reached," a company statement said. "We are pleased by the progress in the discussions to date and very positive about the prospects of this business going forward."

Tata plans to unveil its ultracheap $2,500 car next week at an auto show in New Delhi.

Company Chairman Ratan Tata said in a recent interview that acquiring Jaguar and Land Rover would help bring global visibility to his group — a sprawling conglomerate that makes everything from automobiles to steel and software, and a name that until recently was little-known outside India.

Tata Steel made headlines in January when it acquired Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group PLC for $12.1 billion by outbidding rivals. The deal, India's biggest foreign acquisition, put Tata at the forefront of India's global reach.

While the Corus acquisition was widely seen as a good match — and appears to be paying off — many fail to see comparable synergies in Tata's attempted takeover of Jaguar and Land Rover.

Tata long has been a giant in truck and bus manufacturing, but it has sold cars for only about a decade. It currently has about a 17 percent share of India's market.

Tony Woodley, general secretary of Unite, Jaguar and Land Rover's main labor union, said much still needs to be negotiated with Tata.

"We need further and more detailed meetings and discussions with Ford and Tata which will focus on the job security of our members in the Jaguar, Land Rover and Ford plants in the U.K.," he said in a statement.

Unite has said it would prefer Tata if the company is sold.

Ford is interested in maintaining its parts supply relationship with the new owners of Jaguar and Land Rover. The company builds engines for Jaguar in Europe.

Industry analysts have said Ford wants to find a buyer who would preserve the Jaguar and Land Rover heritage and jobs in the U.K. Ford, which is the top auto seller in the U.K., doesn't want to rankle British customers, they said.

The U.K. government's Business and Enterprise Department in a statement called the Tata announcement a welcome step toward.

"The government's sole concern is to ensure a successful, sustainable future for Jaguar/Land Rover in the U.K. If Tata is ultimately successful in its bid, the government will work as closely with them as it always has with Ford," the statement said.

Cash-hungry Ford, which lost $12.6 billion in 2006 but earned $88 million in the first nine months of 2007, has been looking to sell Jaguar and Land Rover.

It has mortgaged assets to continue operations and expects to burn up $12 billion to $14 billion until 2009, when it plans to return to sustained profitability.

Jaguar and Land Rover strained by unfavorable exchange rates and high production costs in Britain.

Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.7 billion in 2000, joining them with Aston Martin and Volvo to form its Premier Automotive Group.

Mark Warnsman, an analyst with Calyon Securities in New York, said Ford will have to sell the brands at a loss primarily because Jaguar has an uncertain future. While Ford has improved Land Rover, Jaguar has continued to struggle, he said.

"Any buyer of Jaguar is going to be taking on the reputational risk of being able to rebuild that brand," Warnsman said. "There's a huge risk of whether that brand can be revitalized and compete successfully with BMW and Mercedes."

Both Land Rover and Jaguar will require significant investment in the next cycle of new products, he said.

Earlier this year Ford completed the sale of its controlling stake in Aston Martin for $931 million in cash and preferred stock.

Ford has said it plans to keep Volvo for now, fixing its cost structure and making it a more premium brand.

Shares of Ford fell 12 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $6.48.
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Old 01-03-08, 01:11 PM
  #38  
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Ripped from a post on mbworld, but apparently Tata isn't as 'small' as a company as many Americans or even Westerns would like to think.

That's fine Less attention to the assets means less irs audits
FWIW the median income of Indians in America is double that of the average. Coming from a nation of a billion people, they statistically have a better chance of have more "great minds"

It's shown that way in the past from texts like the Mahabharata and continues on today in all the fields of science.

Last edited by vraa; 01-03-08 at 01:17 PM.
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Old 01-03-08, 01:17 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by vraa
Ripped from a post on mbworld, but apparently Tata isn't as 'small' as a company as many Americans or even Westerns would like to think.

That's fine Less attention to the assets means less irs audits
Gee, I didn't know Associated Press only releases on MB World.
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Old 01-03-08, 07:42 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Stormwind
How sad, from British to American to Indian...whats next scrap yard in middle east?
Shows how much you know.
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Old 01-03-08, 08:36 PM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by RON430
Gee, I didn't know Associated Press only releases on MB World.
Oops, not you, I meant my posts thoughts.
I still haven't had time to evaluate the entire situation, sorry for the confusion of clarity.
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Old 01-03-08, 08:56 PM
  #42  
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I dont think TATA will make Jags in India. They will own Jag and Range Rover but they will operate independently, but TATA will put billions of dollars to bring the brands back up to par. This is probaly the best thing that has ever happened to Jaguar. The realiabilty will also strengthed too. Also I hear that they will be adding new models for Jaguars and Range Rovers lineup. But hopefully things should get up to par, I hope for the beter. I really like Jaguar, the new XKR is very appealing car.
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Old 01-03-08, 09:22 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by DJ TANTRA
lThis may upset you a bit -- but the world's RICHEST MAN is Indian...and he was poor as hell ... not born rich...a truly self made man... Mukesh Ambani is his name if you care to google.
You need to update your information.

The indian news claimed he was the richest man but was later told that his worth-information was inaccurate by his own company reliance industries.

He is indeed a wealthy businessman but he is far from being the richest. I believe his networth pegs him somewhere in the top 10 but he remains far behind the top tiers.

Originally Posted by djkhanvict
lol you trying to say indians dont know what luxury is?

bad news buddy.. look at half the doctors across america... look at the engineers... and all the software guys at microsoft.. a GOOD MAJORITY of em are indian..

what are they driving.. mercedes... lexus.. porsche.. bently.. maserati's

****.. im only 18 and I got a lexus (2nd car) ... I think im off to a heck of a good start... just like the rest of us. Parents got an S550 E350 and we got a 528i

lol I aint braggin.. just making a point. just cuz INDIA.. bought out jag and land rover.. doesnt mean the names will go to ****.
I know there are many doctors and other professionals of indian descent but where did they get their education?

Not to say that indian education is worthless but most of those doctors and engineers studied in the states to get their degrees. Coming from another country into the states pretty much makes your degree worthless.
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Old 01-04-08, 01:15 AM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by BrianGS430
Coming from another country into the states pretty much makes your degree worthless.
Really??? So all the hundreds of thousands of highly educated professionals that are attracted to work in the US by big corporations have worthless degrees? FWIW India has some top class educational establishments and they certainly don't issue worthless degrees. In fact the Indian Institutes of Technology was ranked the third best technology university in the world in 2005 and with the cost of tuition continuing to rise more students are expected to travel to the sub-continent from the West to complete degrees.

Last edited by Big Andy; 01-04-08 at 01:52 AM.
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Old 01-04-08, 01:32 AM
  #45  
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i guess it depend on where you got your degree from... a friend of mine from long time ago had a degree in japan and he told me that it is pretty much worthless here so when he came here he went to school again... also my wife's co-worker had a master degree in japan but the state won't let her get her license she has to get her master here before she can get her license... my grandpa got his degree in UK and he came to the state many of times but from what i remeber he can't pratice in US... i heard lots of story like that...
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