Tatas look at manufacturing JLR models in India

Bouyed by the response, Tata Motors today said that the company was looking at synergising functions with its UK-based subsidiary Jaguar-Land Rover and indicated at setting up a manufacturing facility for the two iconic brands in India.



"We started assembling models of Land Rover here... looking at manufacturing down the road. Economies and skills of India will be available and we do have access to technology in JLR today," Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Motors, said.

When asked whether Tata Motors is looking to acquire any other global brand, he said, "We have no plan to shop around, nor do we have any specific brands that we want to acquire."

The auto major is looking at manufacturing and not just assembling Land Rovers in India. "We are in discussions with Fiat for engine supply and other joint venture possibility ahead," Tata told reporters.

Acquisition of JLR in 2008 has put Tata Motors on the map of international market, he said, adding that 50-60 per cent revenues come from outside and the company has maintained its share in the Indian market.

To a query that whether the group would be listing the JLR subsidiary separately on bourses, Tata said no and also ruled out merging JLR brand with others.

Early last year, Jaguar Land Rover, the UK-based unit of Tata Motors Ltd, opened its first assembly plant in India at Pune to assemble sports utility vehicle Land Rover's Freelander 2 from completely knocked down kits shipped from the Halewood manufacturing plant in Liverpool, UK.

JLR sells imported XJ, XF and XK sedans from the Jaguar range in India and the Freelander, Discovery and Range Rover SUVs from Land Rover.



In 2008, Tata Motors had acquired Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford Motor Co for $ 2.3 billion.

Later, Tata Motors had annunced that initiatives have been taken on joint development programmes for engines, vehicles and platforms, which would leverage skills of the company - Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover - resulting in synergies in operations of the company and its subsidiary.

Source: Economic Times

Jaguar Land Rover Considering Plant in Brazil

Tata Motors Ltd.'s U.K.-based unit Jaguar Land Rover is considering building an assembly plant in Brazil as part of its plan to expand in emerging markets and sell its vehicles at competitive prices.



Ralf Speth, the luxury car maker's chief executive, also said the company is continuing to scout for a joint-venture partner in China to build an assembly plant and may spend as much as £100 million on the facility.

"Brazil and the rest of South America is a very interesting market. It is also an emerging market, growing very aggressively," Mr. Speth said. "We are thinking of a kind of a copy-paste facility of the Indian one in Brazil."

He said Jaguar Land Rover is looking for land in Brazil and may choose from any of the three industrial clusters in the country. The company is likely to initially assemble Land Rover vehicles in Brazil, he said.

Global car makers have in recent years aggressively shifted focus to emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil and Russia to partly offset lagging demand in their traditional strongholds of the U.S. and Europe.

Brazil recently imposed heavy taxes on imported cars, prompting car makers to look to shift to assembly operations there.

Jaguar Land Rover, which Tata Motors acquired from Ford Motor Co. in 2008 for $2.3 billion, last year opened a plant in west India's Pune city where it assembles the Land Rover Freelander sport-utility vehicle. It also imports and markets Jaguar's XJ, XK and XF sedans in India and Land Rover models such as the Discovery, Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Sport.

Mr. Speth said the company is facing capacity constraints in the U.K., at least for two of its products -- Land Rover Evoque and Freelander -- and will look at options to raise it either in the U.K. or outside.

Global sales of Jaguar Land Rover vehicles grew 19% during April-November 2011 to 185,431 autos.



Jaguar and Land Rover have, between them, three plants in the U.K. - two at Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the West Midlands, and the third at Halewood in northwest England.

The company also plans to spend £355 million to build a plant at i54 South Staffordshire, a business park near Wolverhampton in the U.K.'s Midlands. The company will jointly develop engines in the plant with its parent.

The groundbreaking for the plant will likely happen in the next few months, Mr. Speth said.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Tata Plans to Export Nano to Bangladesh, Southeast Asia

Tata Nano

Tata Motors Ltd. plans to export its Nano minicars to Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar, the company's India managing director P.M. Telang told reporters Friday.

He didn't give any timeframe for the exports.

Mr. Telang added that the company is likely to take a decision in the next three or four months on setting up a second commercial vehicle assembly plant overseas.

It now has a plant in South Africa for assembling such vehicles.

Separately, Ravi Pisharody, president of Tata's commercial vehicle business unit, said the company plans to introduce a new range of light trucks in India.

"The new range may co-exist with Tata Motors' existing range of commercial vehicles," he added.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Tata Manza Diesel Electric Hybrid concept showcased at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo!

Tata Manza Diesel Electric Hybrid Concept

Tata Motors showcased what was India’s first diesel hybrid concept in the form of the Tata Manza Diesel Electric Hybrid concept, at the Auto Expo 2012. Currently, the only diesel plug-in hybrid in production is the Volvo V70 while the other production diesel hybrid, albeit a non plug-in version is the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4 Crossover. Therefore, the Tata Manza Diesel Hybrid Concept is a special car for it is the first Indian diesel hybrid concept, a tribe of cars that will only grow in the coming times.

The Tata Manza Diesel Hybrid uses a 1.05 Liter common rail turbo diesel engine that produces about 60 Bhp. This engine is mated to an automatic CVT transmission that also receives power from a 45 KW electric motor giving the car its hybrid credentials. The Manza Hybrid features a 44 liter diesel tank, which means that it will be good for a range of close to a whopping 1,000 kilometers when combined with electric power.

Tata Manza Diesel Electric Hybrid Concept

The Manza Diesel Hybrid is designed to operate as both a series as well as a parallel hybrid. In parallel hybrid mode where the diesel engine basically acts as a generator to juice up the lithium ion battery, this car will have a really huge range per tankful and will really frugal if it ever goes into production. The Manza Hybrid also has solar panels lining the roof, regenerative braking and a stop-start system to maximize mileage and tail pipe reduce emissions to a bare minimum.

In concept guise, the Manza Diesel Hybrid has the following additional features,

• Proximity touch operated door locks
• Bi Xenon and LED projector headlamps
• LED tail lamp cluster
• Hydrophobic nano coating on the windshield
• Touch screen infotainment console with haptic feedback
• ABS and airbags

Source: ICB

Tata Motors keen to expand operations in Myanmar

India's Tata Motors is looking to expand operations in Myanmar by assembling and selling buses and light commercial vehicles there, the head of its Indian operations said.



Tata currently operates a truck assembly plant in Myanmar, but is now looking at a larger presence in the South East Asian nation as it moves quickly to implement political reforms and attract investments.

"At the moment we are assembling the larger commercial vehicles...we can look at buses and probably the smaller commercial vehicles," P.M. Telang, managing director of Tata Motors' India operations, told reporters.

The political opening has accelerated since last year when Myanmar's generals installed a new civilian government, released political prisoners and reached out to armed ethnic groups, but economic sanctions are yet to be lifted.

Tata Motors, whose range of cars extends from the ultra-cheap Nano, to British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, is also looking at the potential for manufacturing cars in Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar, Telang said.

The automaker sells its vehicles in Asia, Europe, Africa and South America.

Car sales have slowed down in its home country, hurt by rising finance rates and rising input costs. India's car sales, which grew 30 per cent in the year ended March 2011, are expected to be flat in the current financial year.

Tata Motors posted a wider than expected fall in September quarter earnings due to high interest costs and exchange rate fluctuations.

The company has earmarked 30 billion rupees ($568 million) as capital expenditure for the financial year beginning on April 1, Telang said, almost similar to the current fiscal year's levels.



Source: Economic Times