Tata Motors will assemble Land Rover in India from 2011

India’s leading car manufacturer company, Tata Motors, has taken steps to assemble Land Rover SUV in India from next year. With this plan, they will expand opportunities to produce JLR brands in China.

Chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover, Ralph Speth, said, “We have seen a good response in India for our Land Rover vehicles. We will start assembling them in India from next year.”

Previously, Tata acquired luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover for 2.3 billion from Ford Motor Company in 2008. Now, they are also in talks for assembly-line operation in China.

As China is the third largest market for Land Rover in the world so India is also looking for strong joint venture partners to start assembling the JLR brands in China.

Indian car Manufacturer Company has taken this decision thinking about the increasing popularity of Land Rover in Chinese market. India could also enhance its sales network in China after starting assembly-line operations.

India has good reputation about assembling luxurious cars like Jaguar and Land Rover. It will not only help to create sales network with China but also create lots of job opportunities in India and abroad.

No doubt, this plan will help to make Indian economy much stronger.

Related article:

THE TIMES OF INDIA

Tata Motors Now Turns to Mexico

Tata Motors is reportedly planning to produce its cars in Mexico for the North American market. In fact, the Indian car maker is currently talking to a Mexican firm who, if negotiations go well, would make Tata vehicles in Mexico under a contract manufacturing deal. If the contract is made, the firm will manufacture Tata Indica hatchback model, Indigo Manza Sedan and Nano which is widely considered as world’s cheapest car.

Meanwhile, Rajiv Dube, the president of the passenger car division of Tata Motors, has left the company. It created a big surprise in the Indian auto industry as Mr. Dube was involved with the auto operations of Tata Group for 27 years including 12 years with Tata Motors. He has also been overseeing the passenger car division for the last 5 years. Company insiders said Rajiv Dube may have felt that he would not be able to progress further in Tata Motors.

Related article:

stockwatch

Tata Motors Abandoned Eco Car Project Promoted by Thailand

Tata Motors has called off its Eco Car project in Thailand. Upon promotion of Thailand government, Tata along with some other car makers decided to participate in the eco car project. However, India’s largest commercial car maker has now decided to abandon the project without citing any reason.

Media reports suggest that Tata’s back out from the project may have at least 2 reasons. First of all, government initially set 17% tax for the eco car which has now been increased to 22%. The second reason is as per the commitment with Thailand government, Tata has to invest a huge amount in this project which Tata officials are no longer interested in.

Tata’s eco car investment project certificate has also been terminated as the company did not maintain the 31st March 2010 deadline for submitting the details of the eco car project. However, other car makers like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda and Suzuki are going to take part in the eco car project.

Related article:

thailand-business-news

Tata Motors May 2009 Sales Declined by 13.26 Percent

Indian auto maker Tata Motors experienced 13.26 percent fall in its May 2009 sales compared to the same period of last year. Tata sold 40,916 units in May this year against 46,339 units sold in May 2008. The company saw biggest decline in its overseas sales as it recorded 47.30 percent decrease in exports at 1,804 units, over 3,423 units of the same period of the last year. Domestic sales also declined by 20 percent in May.

Tata sold 10,006 Indica models in May which is 3 percent increase over the last year. Indigo car sales were down by 37.6 per cent at 2,832 volumes. Sumo and Safari models together recorded 49 percent decline in May 2009 sales. Though light commercial vehicle sales saw 20 percent growth, Tata Motors experienced 27 per cent decline in its sales in May, compared with May 2008.

Related article:

The Economic Times

Maruti and Tata in Search of American Engineers

People in Asia always dream to have a job in the US or in Europe, but now it seems US people are keen to have a job in India! Well, it might seem to be strange, but this is the reality amidst the global economic slowdown. While the leading automakers like Toyota, General Motors are cutting jobs in their various plants, Indian automakers are now in search of engineers from USA.

Recently, two of the leading Indian automakers: TATA and Maruti- took part in the Society of Auto Engineers' 2009 World Congress Career Fair at Detroit, looking for new engineers from US for different functions. The two automakers even short listed a number of candidates at the fair. Maruti Suzuki India wants to improve its Omni and M-800 models to Bharat Stage 4. TATA is planning to launch its much-publicized 1 lakh car Nano to US market, but to do so the company needs to improve TATA Nano on its current stages of Bharat Stage II and Bharat Stage III, it is needed to upgrade in order to match up the US emission and safety standards. For example, TATA Nano currently does not feature air bag.

To achieve these things, both Maruti and TATA now want help from US engineers, given that the American engineers would have much more experience regarding US markets. Now, let us see if the two automakers from India can successfully achieve what they are looking for by using the talent and experience of US engineers.

Related article:
Silicon India

Tata Motors to Generate $500 to $750 million by Selling Bonds

Tata Motors Ltd. in India has decided to sell bonds in order to raise a fund between $500 million-$750 million rupees. This information was revealed by an unnamed source involved in the matter. Tata Motors India Ltd. is now in talks with State Bank of India to provide the investors with guarantee. This guarantee will assure the bond owners that if Tata Motors can not pay the due amount to the investors, then State Bank of India will pay it for Tata Motors.

Tata Motors has recently launched its much-awaited passenger car Nano, which is widely known as People’s car, which costs 1 lakh. The automakers have received excellent response for Nano as 1 million potential buyers made their reservation for the car recently, even though the company is not able to manufacture 1 million cars this year. Naturally, Tata Motors now needs investment, and I guess, raising fund by selling bonds is part of that investment.

Related article:

The Wall Street Journal

Tata Motors Experienced 14 Fall in 1st Quarter Sales

Global economic recession now seems to have started making its impact on fastest-growing Indian car market which is now struggling due to domestic economic crisis. Tata Motors, one of the leading auto makers in India, has seen 14 percent fall in its total sales in the first quarter. Tata sold 498,581 vehicles in the first three months of the year which is well below from 582,390 vehicles sold in the same period of last year. Tata has also seen 13% decrease in its domestic sales for March.

Well, Tata has recently launched its much-awaited 2,000-dollar Nano which is claimed to be the world’s cheapest car and Tata is keeping high hopes for the success of Tata Nano which is known as “The People’s Car”. Tata will start taking reservations for Nano from April 9. Though the company is expecting booming success of Tata Nano, some of the market analysts do not think Nano could turn Tata’s world around because Tata Nano will generate very small profit margin in the small car segment which is already packed with several vehicles from different companies. Moreover, Tata could sell maximum 50,000 Nano cars this year because the company can not increase production due to a heated dispute over land ownership leading to a shift of its production facility from West Bengal to Gujarat. So, the company can not roll out more Nano cars until its new production facility being set up in Gujarat.

It is now clear that Tata may not get a huge boost from Nano in the recent future and it would be interesting to see if Tata takes up any other policy to improve the condition in 2009.

Related article:

AFP

Tata Motors Planning to Roll out Diesel Variant of Nano in 2010

Tata Motors, India’s no. 1 car maker, is now planning to launch the diesel variant of Nano by the middle of next year. You already know that Tata Motors will launch Tata Nano, which runs on petrol, on 23 March 2009. According to some company vendors, Tata has already asked them to supply parts for the diesel variants of Tata Nano and it is expected that vendors will start supplying by August or September this year.

Reports have it in the media that Tata Nano’s diesel variant would cost Rs 2 lakh. The petrol variant of Nano without AC goes on sale for Rs 1 lakh, while its deluxe version is priced at 1.4-1.6 lakh. Though Tata Motors has not said anything officially about the launch of Nano’s diesel variant, it is highly expected that the diesel version of Tata Nano will hit the market sometime next year.

Related article:

Economic Times

Tata Motors shuts down its Jamshedpur plant

Tata Motors Limited (BOM: 500570), which previously made headlines for its high profile acquisitions, just become another victim of global credit crunch. Recently, the company declared to shutdown its Jamshedpur plant for five days starting from November 25, 2008. This is the second shutdown in this month in order to adjust the production with declining sales orders. Earlier, it was shut down for three days from November 6 to November 8, 2008. However, it was an unofficial five day shut down. Tata Motors even reduced its production targets in October and put 3,000 temporary workers on leave. More than 70% of the companies that are dependent on Tata were affected from this shutdown. Already, its Pune and Lucknow plants are shutdown starting from November 22 to November 27, 2008. The company forced its workers to take leave without pay. Bachcha Singh, spokesperson of Telco Workers Union said:

"We are with the company. We have suggested to the company management that they adopt measures to cut costs to meet the challenge of global meltdown,"

On November 6, 2008, Ratan Tata, head of the 62.5 billion Tata Group conglomerate, forwarded an e-mail to the heads of all the 98 companies. In the email, he advised to stop all kinds of merger and take over procedures and adopt strict cost cutting measures to keep the companies operational. Tata borrowed heavily from investors and banks to fund its take over plans and now it is under huge debt. Last year, the company produced 1,25,000 vehicles which has come down to 50,000 due to world wide economic crisis.

Related articles:

The Hindu

Hindustan Times

South Asia Fair

Hyundai to Introduce $3,500 Car in India by 2012

Now, it seems that the low-cost car segment of Indian car market is now getting more and more competitive. Tata Motor’s much-waited Rs. 100,000 ($2,500) car, Tata Nano, will come to the Indian market this year. Recently, India’s Bajaj Auto has joined in a $2,500 car project along with Renault-Nissan. Now, it is time for Hyundai Motor India to step into this low-cost car segment. The company announced that a $3,500 car would be launched in Indian market by 2012. The car is now in evolution stage and at its research and development centre in Korea.

The Hindu reported:

"It will take at least 4 years to develop the car and we think we will be able to introduce this car by 2012 for Indian market," Hyundai Motor India Managing Director and CEO H S Lheem told reporters here on Friday.

He said the company would introduce several new models during this year in Indian market which includes Santro LPG, Accent LPG and CNG and i20.

Actually, India has one of the emerging car markets in the world and about two-third of the sales of Indian car market belong to low-cost car segment. So, you can see that this segment is alluring for the car makers. Hyundai Motor India has a strong presence in Indian market and has its own plant near Chennai from where it Hyundai i10 is being produced and exported outside India. In fact, Hyundai Motor India is exporting cars in 95 countries over the world. Though Hyundai denied that its announced low cost car would not compete with Tata’s Nano, I think, it will definitely have some competition with Tata Nano, taking the price tag into account.

As Hyundai is coming up with a price tag that is about $1,000 more than that of Nano, it is certain that Hyundai will add some excellent features to outclass Nano. Whatever the competition is about and whoever is involved in it, the price sensitive Indian consumer will definitely be beneficial because of such stiff competition among the car makers in the market.

Background Story of Tata Nano Car

Tata Nano many not need any introduction to you. Yes readers, I am talking about world’s cheapest car produced by Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors. Tata Nano will go on sale later this year for only Rs. 100,000 ($2,500). So, Tata Nano is reportedly going to be exported some other car markets in different parts of the world. Now, let us take a look at the background story of Tata Nano, dubbed as “people’s car.”

Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors Limited (ADR) (NYSE:TTM), came up with the idea of making world’s cheapest car in 2003. Design engineers first came up with a car which had bars, in stead of doors, along with plastic flaps which would protect the passengers from rain. However, that design looked poor and the company turned it down.

In fact, Tata wanted to introduce a proper car with all the common features of a typical car. First Tata made the prototype of Tata Nano and called on its top suppliers to help to make this car possible. Tata received help from both local and foreign suppliers and engineers.

Businessweek reported:

GKN Driveline India, a subsidiary of global auto parts leader GKN, made the driveshaft—the component that transfers power from the engine to the wheel.

The team spent a year developing 32 experimental variants to create the perfect driveshaft for the Nano. It roped in designers from the company's French and Italian operations and changed the design to make it lighter and easier to manufacture. For the Nano's rear-wheel drive system, GKN designed a smaller diameter of shaft, which made it lighter and saved on material costs.

Fitting the parts of the car together required lots of little, head-breaking details, recalls Wagh. The engine, for instance, was designed three times. Initially, Wagh thought they'd buy an off-the-shelf engine and so studied all the small-capacity engines available. They were unsuitable, so in early 2005 he decided to build his own. The first was a 540 CC engine that, when fitted on the prototype, lacked the necessary power. So its capacity was increased by 9%, then by another 9%, before Wagh finally settled on a 623 CC engine. Then the foot pedal had to be realigned to create more legroom.

Tata Motors is now a bit worried about the future. As the prices of steel and other raw materials are increasing day by day, the company will have to face strong challenge to stick to this price tag.

Tata Nano has created a new segment in the car market. It is true that it is targeted at the segment A or entry level consumer. However, considering the price tag, you can not put it in this segment. Those who were earlier thinking of buying second hand car, will defiantly consider Tata Nano car. The markets of three wheelers and motor bikes will also be affected because of Tata Nano. The company is also planning to make an updated version of Tata Nano with a little bit higher price tag. So, it seems that Tata Nano is still without any strong competitor in this segment. However, much of its success will be proven, only if it runs well and satisfy the car users of India and abroad.

Tata Motors Limited

Tata Nano

World’s Cheapest Car Tata Nano to Hit the Indian Market Later This Year

Indian car maker Tata Motors Limited (ADR) (NYSE:TTM) are going to market its much awaited car, Tata Nano, later this year. Tata Nano is considered as world’s cheapest car with a price tag of 100,000 rupees ($2,500 or £1,277). Because of its eye catching price, it is expected that the car will attract the Indian people and Tata is initially manufacture 250,000 Tata Nano and the annual demand for Tata Nano is expected to be one million. Though the listed price is 100,000 Rupees, the customers have to spend a bit more after adding taxes and other costs.

Well, for offering this price tag, Tata Nano sacrifices some common features including air-conditioner, electric windows and power steering. Tata Nano is coming into the market amid India’s car market being expected to grow rapidly over the next few years thanks to India’s soaring economy.

Worldrecordsacadem reported:

Indian car sales are predicted to more than quadruple to $145bn by 2016. Company chairman Ratan Tata said the launch of the Nano was a landmark in the history of transportation

He said the car was "a safe, affordable and all weather transport - a people's car, designed to meet all safety standards and emissions laws and accessible to all".

The Tata chief, who drove a white Nano to the podium, said he had wanted to make "a safe, affordable and all-weather transport -- a people's car, designed to meet all safety standards and emissions laws and accessible to all."

Tata Nano is powered by a 33bhp, 624cc, engine at the rear. However, the environmentalists are raising their voice against Tata Nano claiming the car would increase air pollution, though Tata said that Nano had met the emission standards and required five litters per hundred kilometers. The company has also declared that Tata will also launch a diesel version of Tata Nano later.

Analysts think that Tata Nano has opened up a new segment of consumers in Indian auto market with its 100,000 Rupees price tag which has started a potential price war among the Indian car makers. Because of Tata Nano, the motor bikes will find it difficult to hold on with their market share. There are many who are terming Tata Nano a revolutionized car in terms of its price.

Well, time has not come yet to judge the success of Tata Nano. However, in Indian market, where two third of the annual passenger vehicles sold are small cars, Tata Nano seems to have a major success with its excellent price being offered.

What do you think about the success of Tata Nano in India?

Tata Motors April 2008 Sales Fell by 5.8%

Indian auto maker Tata Motors has experienced 5.8% fall in its sales in April 2008 compared with the sales unit of the year-ago period. India based Tata Motors Limited (ADR) (NYSE:TTM) is one of the leading domestic car makers in the country. The company sold 38,149 in April this year compared with 40,486 of April 2007.

Tata’s passenger vehicles business was one of the big reasons behind its decline in sales. Tata Indica sales fell by 32 per cent at 7,430. Even though Tata’s other passenger range of cars including Indigo, Sumo and Safari have done well, the company suffered an overall decline only because of the sharp decline of its Indica sales.

Nevertheless, Tata posted an increase of 7 percent at 21,001 in its sales of commercial vehicles in April. However, the company’s exports in April also declined by 43 percent which is defiantly a major cause of concerns.

Sify reported:

The decline is largely on account of the 12-per cent dip in the passenger vehicle business. From 16,842 units in April 2007, it came down to 14,843. Among Tata’s passenger vehicles, Indica was the worst hit. Indica sales declined 32 per cent to 7,430.

Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales stood at 11,248, an increase of 8 per cent. LCV sales were 9,753, an increase of 6 per cent over April 2007. There was a sharp decline in Tata Motor’s exports in April.

India has one of the emerging car markets around the world which is growing rapidly. The county has a big population and there is a lot of scope the automobile market in India could grow more and more. So, the global companies are now interested to come into India’s ever increasing car market and the companies are also interested to make the best use of India’s cheap labor which would reduce their the production cost letting the companies offering a competitive price for the global market. Some of the leading car manufacturers have already entered into Indian market and the rest are eager to come.

So, naturally, there is a huge competition and I am not surprised that Tata’s sales declined in April. However, the good news for Tata is that its much awaited Tata Nano, dubbed as world’s cheapest car, is expected to hit the market this year. Tata Nano will go on sale for 100,000 rupees ($2,500 or £1,277), which is definitely an eye catching offer for India’s price sensitive market. So, Tata’s performance in the coming months of this year is expected to be satisfactory.