Jaguar & Land Rover remain British at heart
March 7, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
Indian manufacturer Tata Motors yesterday announced that it will respect the British heritage of Britain’s leading brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, when the it takes over as owner.
Tata also assured worried workers that no part of production or component sourcing will be transferred to India or any other country.
“Our plan would be to retain the image, the touch and the feel of Jaguar and Land Rover. We will not tinker with the brands in any way. They are special global brands and whoever acquires them has a responsibility to nurture them and enable them to prosper,” Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata said..
Surely we will still call Land Rover and Jaguar British brands if they are still built in Britain despite foreign ownership, after all, isn’t Holden in exactly the same scenario?
“We are conscious that the brands belong to Britain. These brands will continue to belong to Britain,” Tata said.
Tata said he is excited by what Jaguar and Land Rover have in mind for future models and hence will keep the brands’ existing managements in place.
With the sale expected to finalise in the next few weeks, Tata Motors has began making arrangements for $3 billion in loans. The company has assigned its advisers, Citigroup and JPMorgan to begin arranging the financing.
Although $1 billion more than the price of Jaguar and Land Rover, sources indicate the extra cash is needed for working capital.
The two British Marquees have been on sale since June 2007 with the Ford announcing Tata as the preferred bidder in January this year.
Print it: 
Well what can you say. Give it five years all the current models will be out of date and uncompetative. The lack of investment will stiffle upgrading and the development of new ‘greener’ models. People will be turning away to buy the global market leader products from VW group.
Watch this space.
tata has already siad he is funding the xj facelifts and possibly the new f-type
I don’t see the drama? Who cares who owns and injects money into Jag/LR?
Tata has stated that current management will remain, they will run as normal. It wouldn’t be in Tatas best interest to buy a company that cost 2 billion, 3 for capital spending and then to run it into the ground!?
Jag/LR will prosper, watch this space…
Just as easy to see the positive aspect as the negative.
For those that know how Tata operates and, you know, actually bother to find things out would know that they always run with a disctinctly “hands off” approach for those companies they’ve bought out. Jaguar and Land Rover will be pretty much left to do their own thing. And given the amount of cash reserves Tata has (a lot) I don’t think they’ll have any trouble at all funding future models.
FORD CEO,
You once owned 3 of the world’s most desirable & iconic nameplates.. ASTON MARTIN, LAND ROVER & JAGUAR.
All three brands were outdated and outclassed when you took ownership.
All three are now at the top of their market segment for desirabilty, style. And reliability has improved substantially. Aston Martin and Range Rover being the ultimate examples.
Technology sharing within the Ford stable has been hugely beneficial.
Many poeple credit Ford for such dramatic improvements and no doubt there was a knock on effect for the image of Ford products must have been.
So why sell?? I just don’t see the long term benefit??
These three sales will surely be seen as a mistake in retrospect!!
Lincoln, the brand you believe is the future of upper luxury for Ford, will never be what Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin are today!!
Hi guys,
I personal feal that Jag went backwards when Ford took over (plastic feel inside – dash etc)… I reckon the FINISH (quality) suffered. My humble opinion.
Tata is now famous for lots of cash and producing cheap cars (Nano)..
I am GLAD they say they will leave Rover and Jag to their own devices..
I am just hoping this is no LIP SERVICE during the transiton, and then in 1 or 2 budgets time, they dont stick their bean counters in the mix and start cutting costs etc – as I sadly believe that could spell the end of Jag….
Here’s hoping anway..
Jimmy
Message to Ford
Yes, you sold 3 lemon brands…Who cares they are/where/will be small time market players.
Now if you would be so kind to sell Mazda [u dont deseve to own it] and sell Volvo back to the Swedes [I still live in hope that SAAB will also be sold by GM and then the 2 Swedes can join together!]
As for Ford keep making more and more losses and building pick-up-trucks and foulcans
Cheers
F-0
Frugal One,
Your a DipSh/??
FO…
Ford saved Mazda in the early mid 90’s they wouldn’t be here today if Ford didn’t save them, not the other way around.
Volvo has only improved under Fords ownership, how about stating the truth just for a change??
James F…
I ask this question, again. What interest would Tata have in buying Jag/LR for 2 billion spend a further 1 billion only to have them collaspe!?
I don’t see the logic in that situation or the way some of you think.
Get over the fact tata will own Jag/LR…and stop the dramatics, thank god some of you don’t run global companies!
Alec…
I think you’re correct!
I would have to say that if Tata were to buy Jaguar, things would proably go downhill even further for the company. However, having said this, Jaguar needs someone who is prepared to spend a bit of money on it. Particularly it’s engine’s. Although they sound great in the new XF, but they need more power. Just 224Kw from a V8, and 300Kw from a supercharged V8 isn’t good enough these days, and hasnt been since the late 90’s. As for Landrover, a new Defender, and I mean brand new Defender, would be nice..
So first the Germans let the English keep their jobs, now its the Indians..
Ohh my how the mighty have fallen..
LR is what TATA want not JAG. There is nothing special in JAG, JAG has been loosing market share in US and other places. It has been a struggle for JAG to compete against the likes of BMW, Lexus, Audi…. I think TATA will move most of the manufacturing to India.
Ford used to own- Ford (itself), Land Rover, Jaguar, Rover and Volvo
Now its just………. Ford (itself) and Volvo and rover (i think)
No rover, BMW used to won rover and offloaded them a while back to due to bleeding too much money.