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The cash purchase, part of plans by India’s top vehicle maker to expand its reach beyond Asia, capped months of talks with Ford Motor Co., which is selling the prestige brands to focus on turning around its North American operations after losing 15.3 billion dollars over the past two years…
Ford is getting less than half what it paid for the two marques after buying Jaguar in 1989 for 2.5 billion dollars and Land Rover in 2000 for 2.7 billion dollars.
The new purchase by the group, led by racing car enthusiast Ratan Tata, is another sign of corporate India spreading its global wings and comes a year after the conglomerate bought British steel giant Corus Group for 13.7 billion dollars, the biggest-ever acquisition by an Indian company.
Westerners should begin catching up on economics in the rest of the world. Who knows? Someone from DuBai may just buy the NY Yankees or McDonalds, next year.
Just when you thought Ford killed Jaguar…. prepare to see 3 cylinder jaguars.
Perhaps Tata will design a Micro-Jag – put one on each foot !!!
What do you expect. Line workers coming fresh out of high school make more money in Detroit than some nurses. Those are the union rules. Of course in India, they can throw people with the same level of education at the problem for 1/10th of the cost.
Ford has to compete with Kia and Suzuki. Recently, Ford has started moving plants to non-union areas (Kentucky for instance) so they can produce at a lower price. However, Kia (based in Korea) doesn’t have the level of corporate taxes that Ford (based in the U.S.) has to pay. That’s why Ford is sucking hind tit and auto workers can’t find jobs.
But I forget, we’re supposed to increase the taxes on the “evil corporations”. That’ll learn em.
[edit: comments guide]
And yet, Ford’s owned Jag since 1989.
Wow..Tata’s really Bodacious!
(how can I be the first to say this??!!! :p)
Well, let’s hope this sale will allow Ford to focus on developing real Hybrid and compact vehicles now. Besides, the way fuel prices are, I think the trend shows that the majority of consumers out there are not buying Jags and Land Rover SUVs as much anymore. Of course, I may be wrong but I don’t think, at least in the US, the time is right to own these two companies which are not known as innovators or fuel economy vehicles. Good move by Ford to be able to dump these two to anybody.
Calin,
What is your point?
All of Ford’s plants are unionized. But I guess you won’t be happy until the entire American economy is similar to that of China at the moment?
No, this money will go to pay for the health care and pensions of people who built crappy cars in the 70s and 80s that made people switch to Toyota and Honda in the first place.
#4: JPV: Just curious. Are you the same John Vulich who runs Optic Nerve? Your IP shows you’re in Studio City. Or are we editors too stupid to know these things?
#8
I have a cousin that works in a Ford Plant in Kentucky. Their union doesn’t have the minimum pay levels as high as you see in other places (i.e. Detroit). When a factory worker can make 45 bucks an hour straight out of high school, the price of the product will go up without any increase in the value of the automobile. Hence Ford cannot keep up with their competitors. Nissan has a plant in Mississippi, their line workers are paid a decent wage, with great benefits…without huge union forces. But Honda is out-performing Ford by leaps and bounds. Could it be because Honda is based out of Asia, and thereby isn’t effected by most corporate taxes; and while Ford is being hammered by their government, Honda is getting tax breaks from states where they build their plants?
But of course, I guess you won’t be happy until the entire American economy is similar to that of Venezuela at the moment.
time to say tata to both jaguar and land rover. These cars will suck now the same way as other cheap polluting cars from tata. Maybe only the rickshaw owners will buy these Indian made jaguars and land rovers and show off around the slums in indias new Delhi.
My Asian girl friend has great tatas.
Calm down, everyone, Jags and Landys will continue to be made in England. But they will be loosing Indian money, rather than American.
It used to be that you hankered after a Jaguar because you wanted to take a ride on some great tatas. Now you have to ride in a tata to have a Jaguar.
Does it seem like we now live on The Bizarro Planet or what?
I’ve heard that they’re going to offer a special deal to women. Every woman who buys a new Jaguar at full price, will receive a pair of new Tatas.
Yea, I said it…