Tags:
Journalism of Courage
India’s Tata Motors became the world’s only vehicle maker that offers a choice of cars ranging from Rs 1 lakh (Nano) to over Rs 1 crore following the acquisition of Ford’s luxury car brand Jaguar, along with Land Rover.
The Jaguar marque sells worldwide for the equivalent of anything between Rs 50 lakh and above and could cost up to Rs 1 crore when imported to India and would drive its new owner into the select club of luxury car makers like BMW and Audi.
Two months ago, Tata Motors earned the distinction of becoming the world’s cheapest car maker when it unveiled Nano – an affordable family car that will begin selling for Rs 1 lakh or nearly USD 2,500 (ex-showroom) later 2008.
But this is not the first time that Tatas are snapping up a British brand. In January 2007, Tata Steel acquired Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus, a company that earned four times more revenue than the Indian buyer.
Although Tatas showed class all the way, they have had to contend with insults be it when they bid for Jaguar-Land Rover or hotel chain Orient-Express.
“I don’t believe the US public is ready for ownership out of India for a luxury-car brand such as Jaguar,” Ken Gorin, the head of Jaguar’s American dealers, had said during the course of Tata’s bid for Ford’s British marques.
However, Tatas have shown the world that they are not the ones to be cowed down by such paradoxical statements by people in the West, whose companies have increasingly been moving jobs to the East to save costs.
