Tata’s $2.3b Folly – Buying Jaguar, Land Rover

Indian conglomerate Tata has acquired Ford’s ailing brands Jaguar and Land Rover for $2.3 billion. For years, Jaguar has been a millstone round Ford’s neck. We find it hard to accept that this is a smart business move from the Tata Group. For several years, Lexus, BMW and Mercedes have made mincemeat of Jaguar. Jaguar […]

TCS Wins IT Services Deal with Struggling Chrysler

Tata Consultancy Services has won a multi-year contract to provide IT services to ailing U.S. car company Chrysler. The value of the deal was not disclosed. TCS will provide application maintenance and support services to Chrysler. TCS said the IT services contract would include functional areas within Chrysler such as sales and marketing and shared […]

GM Screwed – Reports $38.7 billion Loss in 2007

American auto giant General Motors has reported a mega-loss of $38.7 billion in 2007. The massive loss was mostly due to three reasons: * A charge related to unused tax credits in the third quarter * GM produces some of the crappiest cars that no one wants to buy * Decades of poor management GM’s […]

Does $2,500 Tata Nano Doom GM & Ford in India?

Now that Ratan Tata has unveiled the much anticipated $2,500 Tata Nano at the Delhi Auto Expo, the two big questions are what does the People’s Car mean for existing foreign players like Ford, GM and Suzuki who have set up operations in India and what impact will it have on Tata’s aspirations for the high-end Jaguar […]

Ford Sees Stagnant Car Sales in India

Even before Tata’s $2,500 (Rs 100,000) car hits Indian roads, American auto maker Ford is singing a melancholic tune. Ford acknowledged that its car sales in India in 2008 would be the same as last year – 40,000 (which itself was lower than the 2006 sales figure of 42,060 units). Sure looks like Ford’s troubles in […]

Tatas are Nuts to Bid for Fading Jaguar & Land Rover

Why the heck is India’s Tata group itching to buy Ford’s dying auto brands Jaguar and Land Rover? Just doesn’t make sense to us as to why Tata – now the clear frontrunner to pick up Ford’s struggling Jaguar and Land Rover units – wants to acquire these two white elephants. Both Jaguar and Land […]