Before Fiat snapped up Chrysler from the US taxpayers for a song, it saw the Indian firm Tata as another logical partner for a long-term alliance. After Tata bought Jaguar/Land Rover, the auto media was awash in rumors that the British brand would share components with Fiat’s Alfa-Romeo brand. When Tata came out with the Nano, there was speculation that Fiat’s dealers in Europe and Latin America could be used to sell the low-cost car, even rumors of a Fiat-branded version were floated. Fiat even tried to sell Tata on one of its notoriously nasty Italian plants. What did surface from Fiat and Tata’s flirtations: a joint venture in India that, by all accounts, is going not well at all. And now, with Fiat distracted by its Chrysler rebuilding project, Ratan Tata is expressing his displeasure with his firm’s Fiat tie-up, telling The Hindu Businessline
I have to admit that so far, the venture with Fiat has not been as active as we had thought… I think that Fiat has to launch more models into the market to keep dealers interested. It also has to look at its cost structure in terms of parts and components. So the joint venture needs to be looked at quite critically and until that happens, it’s not going to be optimised… As far as what else we can do with Fiat, I think Sergio Marchionne and I can really talk to each other. However, at the working level, it hasn’t quite been that way. We have looked at Latin America to do something together, but things haven’t moved as they should have done
Bloomberg reports that the world’s cheapest car, the Tata Nano has seen its sales drop from the point where it had to hold a lottery to choose buyers for its first 100k units to last month’s all-time low of only 509 units sold. Tata has raised the price twice this year, bumping the MSRP by 4 percent in July and then adding another $200 to the price in October. This, in addition to the Nano’s fire-related issues and the inability of Indian consumers to secure financing for the microcar is being blamed for the sales drop. Says Mahantesh Sabarad, an analyst with Fortune Equity Brokers (India) Ltd:
The product has had a difficult time in terms of its perception ever since those fire incidents came in. A lot of people bought the car in the initial sales period for its novelty factor and didn’t go for loans
Tata’s response: hire more sales staff and work with banks to secure loans for Nano customers. After all, the Indian automaker has 250k annual production capacity assigned to the Nano, so sales had better start picking up soon.
When Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) from Ford in 2008, the general consensus was that Ford was off-loading a massive problem, and that Tata should have their collective heads examined. JLR had been nothing but a cash drain on Ford. Sucking up resources which other divisions (cough-Lincoln-cough) sorely needed. The Jaguar brand was damaged due to the X-Type “fiasco” (note the inverted commas, because I still love my X-Type!) and Land Rover wasn’t really held in much higher regard. Even I, a big Jag-fan, had to concede that I was seeing the final days of JLR. How wrong was I? (Read More…)
Tata reiterated its threat to invest the the U.S. and Europe with their bargain-basement Nano car. At an event held today in Toyko, Tata’s Vice Chairman Ravi Kant said that “Tata Motors now plans to take it forward to the developed markets in Europe and in the U.S.,” The Nikkei [sub] reports. “Now plans?” (Read More…)
So, how does the maker of the world’s cheapest mass-market car go about building India’s first home-grown upscale crossover? First, go buy several small European automakers…
In Europe, governments are ramping up their electric car programmes in order to usher in a new era of alternative propulsion vehicles. Some more successfully than others. And just as the countries are doing their part, the automakers are doing theirs. GM has an Ampera (or “Volt”, as our North American friends will know it as) in the offing while Nissan preps the Leaf. Much has been made of this fight, in part because it is playing out globally. But in Europe another contender is looking to steal the march on GM and Nissan: Indian upstart Tata Motors.
Japan’s Mag-X [via Autoten] brings us this rendering of a Toyota low-cost car, said to be planned for a 2012 launch in India’s hot-hot entry-level car market. Expected to weigh about 1,322 lbs, Toyota’s Tata Nano-fighter is said to have an 800cc two-cylinder engine mounted out back (alá Nano).
Pictures are supposed to be worth a thousand words, but this one is good for at least two whole life lessons. First: you get what you pay for. If you buy the world’s cheapest car, as insurance agent Satish Sawant did, it might just burst into flames on the drive home from the dealership. Second: Google Adsense has no sense of irony.
Last week was an eventful one for Tata Motors. First, Daimler announced that it had completed selling off its 5.34% stake in the Indian automaker, for USD $422 million. Investors including Citibank and Tata Sons, the largest current Tata Motors stockholder, acquired the shares. Daimler explained the move by saying that it is now well enough established in India in terms of passenger and commercial vehicles, to no longer need an equity share in a local company. Daimler already builds CVs in Pune and its new CV plant in Chennai will go online in 2012. Daimler and Tata have a relationship that dates to 1954, when Tata started assembling Mercedes-Benz trucks. The two companies started local assembly of M-B cars in 1994 under the Telco joint venture.
Uh-oh. Daimler must be needing money really bad. Reuters has on their wire that Daimler is trying to sell their complete 5.34 percent share in Tata Motors for cheap. They are offering the package at a discount of 4 to 7 percent below the stock’s Monday close, and hope to raise $429 million. (Read More…)
Every good turn deserves another, and in response to America’s bailout of its most vulnerable automakers, the EU is investing in its least viable automakers. Having invested $547m in Saab, the European Investment Bank is announcing a $458m loan to Jaguar Land Rover, the troubled luxury divisions of Tata Motors. Automotive News [sub] reports that JLR will use the cash to develop micro- and full-hybrid drivetrains and generally improve fuel efficiency. Does this include a rumored Jaguar gas turbine hybrid? Officials won’t give details, but Tata’s Ravi Kant does go on the record to say
This will support the progress of turnaround in Jaguar Land Rover’s business in challenging market conditions, alongside cost cutting measures, increase of volumes and the improved margins strategy currently being implemented by Jaguar Land Rover
There are changes afoot at Tata Motors’ Jaguar/Land Rover division, since CEO David Smith departed the company and former Tata CEO Ravi Kant stepped in temporarily. Smith likely left over planned cuts to JLR’s UK production capacity, and now that former Opel boss Carl-Peter Forster and BMW exec Ralf Speth have taken the reigns [via WSJ [sub]], there’s more cost-cutting afoot. Autocar reports that Jaguar Land Rover will downsize its range of architectures, from six to two, as greater platform-sharing both within and between the two marques is set to accelerate.
As much grumbling as there is among US-based enthusiasts about increasing efficiency standards, Europe’s emissions requirements are yielding even stranger fruit than mere V6-powered Porsche Panameras. One such product of the conintental obsession with downsizing: Fiat’s new TwinAir engine, available this summer on European-spec Fiat 500s. The 900 cc turbocharged twin generates 85 horsepower while emitting fewer than 100 grams of C02 per kilometer, and uses Fiat’s much-vaunted MultiAir technology. An uprated turbo version with 105 hp will become available later, reports Edmunds, as will a 60 hp naturally-aspirated version. The only other automaker to offer a two-pot in a road car? That would be Tata, which equips its Nano with a 33 hp, 632 cc engine. Given the close ties between Tata and Fiat, could Europeans have a 100 hp+ Abarth-branded Nano in their future?
Last November, we reported that Carl-Peter Forster had stepped down as CEO of General Motors Europe, in protest over GM’s interruptus of the Opel/Magna deal. We also reported that Forster may take a job at Tata in India. All in due time … (Read More…)
Recent Comments