The government has announced a £10 million loan to Tata to support the manufacturing of electric vehicles in the UK.
The loan has been awarded under the automotive assistance programme and Tata, the Indian firm which owns Jaguar Land Rover, will invest £25m into producing the Tata Indica Vista four-seat electric vehicle.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “The government is determined to help the car industry to exploit fully the opportunities offered by green manufacturing. Today we are backing Tata as Tata backs Britain.
“This loan will strengthen our electric vehicle manufacturing expertise, securing and creating high value engineering jobs in the West Midlands. Tata will continue to invest in R&D in the next generation of sustainable transport, helping it become a lead player in this exciting and important technological area.”
The Indica Vista was launched in India last year and it will go into production by the end of the year. It has a range of 124 miles and has a top speed of 65mph.
In a statement, Tata said: “Tata appreciates the £10 million loan, under the UK government’s automotive assistance programme to develop and manufacture the Tata Indica Vista Electric Vehicle in the UK with an investment of £25 million.”
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Re: DorsetDave's inability to read an article properly.
Evil in the world are not going to do much worse than other automotive brands Jaguar and Land RoverDorsetDave's inability to read an article properly.
DorsetDave, where does it say handout? All I see is loan to make TATA cars, not Land Rovers... JLR have had less off our own UK government than MOST foreign manufacturers who have benifited from the scrappage scheme handout. If you want to have a go at anyone why not Hyundai or Ford who have had much more off this government through the scrappage scheme. Which by the way is set to be extended. All that is an artificial subsidy not a loan.
Indeed you could hold JLR up as an example of the car maker that got it right and isn't about to go bust because it didn't get a handout like Renault, PSA, Ford, GM, and most other car makers off their domestic governments.
In fact go further and look at how much Toyota, Nissan and others have been gifted by previous UK governments to make cars in the UK. How much is Vauxhall being GIVEN Dave? One rule for Vauxhall and another for JLR? TATA Motors (as opposed to JLR) is getting a paltry 10 million pound loan.
I think you should apologise DorsetDave to JLR for not reading the original article or for just wanting to have a pop at JLR for no reason at all.