The sale of Jaguar and Land Rover has been completed following the finalisation of the complicated deal between Ford and India’s Tata Motors. The Indian conglomerate has borrowed $2.3 billion (£1.2 billion) to buy the two brands, but maintains that it will not move production of Jaguars or Land Rovers to India, and will respect the brands' British heritage. Tata chairman Ratan Tata confirmed his company will stick to the five-year investment plan for the UK factories in Halewood, Solihull and Castle Bromwich. Announcing the deal, he said:“We are very pleased at the prospect of Jaguar and Land Rover being a significant part of our automotive business. We have enormous respect for the two brands and will endeavour to preserve and build on their heritage and competitiveness, keeping their identities intact. We aim to support their growth, while holding true to our principles of allowing the management and employees to bring their experience and expertise to bear on the growth of the business.”Union worries about job losses have been partially allayed by the five-year promise and assurances that Tata will continue to use Ford-supplied engines. Many of Jaguar and Land Rover’s engines, such as the 2.7-litre V6 diesel and 3.2 V6 petrol, are made in Ford’s Dagenham and Bridgend factories. Ford will also transfer $600 million to the Jaguar and Land Rover pension fund. Ford’s Executive Vice President, Lewis Booth, told Autocar that Ford will help Tata to integrate green technology into the Jaguar and Land Rover ranges, and he also that the engine supply arrangement is a long-term deal, saying that “Tata is really committed to the business and really committed to Britain.” Booth also confirmed that Ford is not maintaining any stake in Jaguar / Land Rover, in contrast to the 15 per cent holding it maintained in Aston Martin when it sold the company last year.Jaguar Land Rover CEO, Geoff Polites, welcomed the formal announcement of the deal by saying: “Jaguar Land Rover’s management team is very pleased that Ford and Tata Motors have come to an agreement today. Our team has been consulted extensively on the deal content and feels confident that it provides for the business needs of both our brands going forward.”History of TataJaguar: the futureLand Rover: the futureJaguar: promise unfulfilledLand Rover: the world's most succesful 4x4 makerGeneva Show interview with Ratan TataGo to Chas Hallett's JLR blog
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Re: Tata takes control of JLR
Sounds like good news! Jaguar and LR is finally breaking away from the constraints of Ford.
Jaguar's failure was mostly fords doing as they were too cautious and made many foolish decisions.
1) The X-Type, while was good in theory, was poor in execution. Being based on the Mondeo was not so bad. Audi's A4 is based on the VW Passat and nobody makes a big deal about that (But Audi isn't stupid enough to actually promote it!!!) The X-Type's styling, packaging, etc were little to be desired.
2) The F-Type roadster, Jaguar teased us with the sexy concept car and, at the last minute, canned it! BIG mistake! It was one of the first modern Jaguar many ppl actually lusted for. It would have sold by the bucket loads.
3) The F1 team - STUPID idea, enough said!
4) Retro style - a lot has been said about the retro styling of Jaguars. Just couldnt attract the people who were buying Mercedes, BMWs and Audis. Jaguar should've been a design leader. The S type was a disaster, styling wise. The XJ well looks like its over 40 years old and hasnt aged a day and the 'mini' XJ, the X type, was just wrong. I don't think any 3 series, A4 or C Class owner, in his/her right mind would trade their car for an X-Type. Maybe they'd buy one for their grandparents.
Re: Tata takes control of JLR
JLR uses predominantly Steel, with increasing use of Aluminium. Corus changed their name because as well as steel, they are increasingly producing Aluminium. Tata, therefore, have bought their british subsidiary a customer.
Also, I remember reading an interview with Ratan Tata, in which he claimed to be the current manufacturer of JLR's tooling. So the most recently purchased equipment are Tata.
These two suppositions , together with others I think, make the purchase seem rather less of a gamble.
Re: Tata takes control of JLR
New money, new approach and a guy at the top who is not afraid to make decisions on new exciting models. After the lethargy of Ford, this has to be a great thing for both companies.