Industry experts believe that Indian vehicle manufacturer, Tata Motors, are gearing up to take over Ford’s marques Jaguar and Land Rover. If the deal goes through, it will represent the first time that a major western car group has been bought by an Indian company. Financial Times reported that Jaguar bosses have said they are ‘relaxed’ about the impending takeover by India’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles.

Tata Motors’ bid received strong levels of trade union support. Details of the deal remain unconfirmed, but industry sources have been talking in terms of Ford making up to £1 billion from the sale.Interestingly, before it pulled up ahead in the race, Tata was vying with another Indian rival vehicle manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra, as well as private equity firm One Equity.

The Tata bid has come in for a fair share of questioning as well though. Market analysts Standard and Poors have put the company on ‘creditwatch with negative implications’ after Ford confirmed that the Tata group was the official frontrunner in the race for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Other analysts have made specific note of the fact that Tata is known for its functional range of buses, trucks and small cars and said they remain unconvinced about how luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover would fit in with the Tata range.

The Tata group was in the news recently for unveiling the ‘People’s Car’, the cheapest car in the world which was described on the company’s official website as being christened ‘Nano, because it is a small car with high technology.’
Some Ford dealers have also gone on record to say that the two brands would be devalued if owned by an Indian company. Tata’s Chairman, Ratan Tata, has reacted strongly to suggestions about the company being unable to acquire and manage the brands successfully by saying his group would make a better owner of Jaguar and Land Rover than Ford.
Further reading: 1) Tata Motors 2007 Company Profile Edition 2

2) Indian Automobile Sector-A Booming Market