Land Rover in new hands by Wednesday

[Ryan]

Looks like Land Rover will be in Indian hands by Wednesday.

Tata news on BBC

[Happyoldgit]

No real surprise, hope it works out ...for a change.

[Guest WALFY]

I spoke to a manager at LR the other day about the future and how he saw it. He seemed to think that TATA was the way ahead and would be good for the company as a whole. He was looking forward to the change

[ciderman]

I just heard on the radio that Tata are anouncing today there take over of Land Rover and Jaguar.

Could this be the end ?

[siearl]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7313380.stm

[GBMUD]

I just heard on the radio that Tata are anouncing today there take over of Land Rover and Jaguar.

Could this be the end ?

Was it the end when BMW bought Landrover? Was it the end when Ford bought Landrover? Tata is a huge huge company, just not so well known in the west, and they did not become big and powerful (and rich enough to buy Jaguar/LR) by making poor decisions. I for one believe that it is probably a good thing - or would you think that being part of BL again was better for the company?

Chris

[Happyoldgit]

Two threads on the same subject so they've been merged.

[Mo Murphy]

Does this mean that all genuine parts are now going to be made by County !

Whilst I would echo Chris' thoughts above, there is a reason why they are relatively unknown in the West and that's because whilst they are extremely competitive on costs their quality leaves much to be desired. Let's hope that they bought for the knowledge not for a fast buck.

Mo

[ciderman]

Was it the end when BMW bought Landrover? Was it the end when Ford bought Landrover? Tata is a huge huge company, just not so well known in the west, and they did not become big and powerful (and rich enough to buy Jaguar/LR) by making poor decisions. I for one believe that it is probably a good thing - or would you think that being part of BL again was better for the company?

Chris

Good point Chris , I guess some will judge Tata by thier badly made pick ups of a few years back , No different to Skoda back in the 80`s But now look at them .Luverly cars

[lrfarmer]

as long as the spears keep coming and people keep buying the land rovers thing sould be ok (well fingers crossed).

[ciderman]

Spears ? They are going to India not Africa (Zulus)

No!

Ok coats on ,im gone

[freeagent]

I think we should just wait and see.... I think they already own British Steel, (Corus) and don't seem to have mucked about with that too much.

if Tata can offer the stability and financial backing that Ford/ BMW/ Honda/ British Aerospace/ British Leyland/ Rover car Co couldn't offer then good on 'em.

[SiWhite]

Tata seem to be taking over all my favorite things in life - first Tetley tea and now Land Rover

[will_warne]

Personally I think it may be a good thing for us die hard fans of the mark as I think it may be the only way something mainly hand built like the Defender can be continued to be produced. The only down side is that it'll probably be hand built on the other side of the world.

Quality may be an issue but we are talking about Land Rover and Jaguar here. We all know about the famous Land Rover pannel gaps and rust proofing but Jaguar aren't much better.

TBH my only concern is what they'll do about engines. Do you think we'll see LR developing their own lumps again?

[GBMUD]

As engines become ever more complicated and difficult to build such that they meet emissions targets I think that we will see less and less manufacturers designing and building their own engines and more and more 'group' engines. Like Landrover using BMW and then Jaguar engines, Ford cooperating with Peugeot (?) to make diesel engines etc.

Ultimately Tata vehicles were not a success in the west because the build standards were not up to it. I guess that Tata were not in a position where they felt confident/able to afford the financial risk to build a car to western standards - so they bought some in ready made instead. It seems more likely that as Asian economies grow the demand for better motor cars will need to be filled. That to me sounds like Landrover/Jaguar technologies moving east rather than Tata tech moving west. I would be surprised if we in the west had nothing to learn from the Indians though.

Chris

[freeagent]

I would be surprised if we in the west had nothing to learn from the Indians though.

Chris

I think the fact that Jaguar and Landrover have been bought by India proves they could probably teach us a thing or two...

Tata have bought two premium brands, and i'm sure they will want to keep the high-end image and not do anything to damage it.

I think i'd rather have a global sucess story like Tata at the wheel, than either BMW (who didn't realy understand what Landrover were about) or Ford (who are rapidly going bust)

[Guest WALFY]

I spoke to a manager at LR the other day about the future and how he saw it. He seemed to think that TATA was the way ahead and would be good for the company as a whole. He was looking forward to the change

The bloke I spoke to alluded that TATA have a history of buying company's and then running them as before. In such that they don't change the ethos of the company, rather build on what they have purchased. So here's hoping they don't change to much.

[Happyoldgit]

Just confirmed

Tata buys Jaguar in £1.15bn deal

Jaguar, Land Rover logos

Ford put Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale last June

Car giant Ford has sold its luxury UK-based car marques Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian company Tata.

Tata, India's biggest vehicle maker, is paying $2.3bn (£1.15bn) for the British marques after months of negotiations over the price.

The negotiations started last June when Ford announced its intention to sell the companies as a package.

Jaguar and Land Rover employ about 16,000 staff at plants across the West Midlands and Merseyside.

(Source BBC)

[GBMUD]

Even the unions sounded up-beat on Radio4's mid-day news.

Chris

[BogMonster]

Can't get much worse for job security - I know a few people on the inside and some good people have left the company over the years just because of the headless chicken syndrome - they liked their jobs but after directives from Munich and then Detroit they really didn't have a clue what was going to happen next.

Hopefully Tata will say ta ta to electric handbrakes

[SteveG]

Hopefully Tata will say ta ta to electric handbrakes

I doubt it people seem to like them on road going vehicles and they are getting more and more popular all of the time

[DSN]

Electric park brakes are here to stay I'm afraid. Packaging space in vehicles is terrible now and when you need to incorporate lots of cup holders, a traditional handbrake lever gets in the way!

In the industry, I think the feeling is the Tata takeover is good. They are a large and diverse company so lots of stability as not all eggs in 1 basket. Who knows what they will do engine wise but the general trend as Chris said is to have joint ventures to ensure large volume to offset the huge investment. With the ever stringent emissions laws, you need highly developed engines, especially if they have to haul around such heavy lumps like Range Rover etc!

At least now the wait is over so hopefully a little more settling for all the workers. Who knows what will happen in a few years time!

[Old Spot]

Hopefully Tata will design a diesel engine of at least 2.8L with manual injection and simple to work on, maybe they could follow Ssangyong and use the Merc 5 cyl 2.8 in a 4x4.

[Raumer]

Interesting snippet of related information from a different news story:

Separately, Marchionne reiterated Fiat’s interest in

working with India’s Tata Motors Ltd. after the latter buys the

Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co. Fiat

said last fall it would provide technical support for the British

brands, as it has done for Tata’s $2,500 Nano car.

Could we end up with the santana iveco being a basis for a new defender or the two being merged together?

Ed

[OilIT]

their quality leaves much to be desired.

Thats why the purchase makes so much sense - LR & Jaguar wont put them to shame on quality !!!!!!!!

But seriously - think about it - they own the steel works, so they can probably get steel at half the price ford can etc - and still make money. if you look at their website - you see this at a high level of the sort sof business they are in just a quick glance shows tremendous opportunity for cost savings and streamlining benefits:-

AUTOMOTIVE

Tata AutoComp Systems

Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Automotive Composite Systems International,

Automotive Stampings and Assemblies, Knorr Bremse Systems for Commercial Vehicles,

Tata AutoComp GY Batteries, TACO Engineering, TACO Faurecia Design Centre,

TACO Hendrickson Suspension Systems, TACO Interiors and Plastics Division,

TacoKunststofftechnik, TACO MobiApps Telematics, TACO Supply Chain Management, TACO Tooling,

TACO Visteon Engineering Center, Tata Ficosa Automotive Systems, Tata Johnson Controls Automotive,

Tata Toyo Radiator, Tata Yazaki AutoComp, TC Springs, Technical Stampings Automotive

Tata Motors

Subsidiaries / associates / joint ventures: Concorde Motors, HV Axels, HV Transmissions,

Nita Company, TAL Manufacturing Solutions, Tata Cummins, Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company,

Tata Engineering Services, Tata Precision Industries, Tata Technologies, Telco Construction Equipment

ENGINEERING SERVICES

Tata Projects

TCE Consulting Engineers

Voltas

ENGINEERING PRODUCTS

TAL Manufacturing Solutions

Telco Construction Equipment Company

TRF