Ta Ta!

There'll alway be an India. Though Jaguars are not native to the sub-continent. I guess they and their compatriots have gone a rovin'.

CAR Magazine had a (suprisingly?) favourable story on Tata's utter opposite to Ford's former Premier Automotive Group vehicles.

As for Jaguar's and Land Rover's future, this column in the WSJ is distinctly pessimistic:

India's Tata Motors must have some magic management dust to sprinkle on Jaguar if it thinks it can turn the troubled British luxury car maker and its storied compatriot Land Rover -- both of which it agreed yesterday to buy from Ford Motor Co. -- into money-making enterprises. Or perhaps it is simply going to sell valuable property in Britain, close the factories and move production to India...

Yet, if Tata makes a go of it, what a great step for the international capitalist conspiracy, third (but advancing) world division.

Mark C.

Update: More on the shifting assembly sands:

Tata Motors Ltd. is dominating the chatter from Detroit to Delhi with its purchase of Jaguar and its $2,500 (U.S.) Nano car, but three old stalwarts are in the driver's seat as the centre of gravity shifts in the global automotive industry.

Even though Brazil, Russia, India and China are set to surpass the traditional locations of North America, Western Europe and Japan as the growth leaders in auto production, Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Corp. and Volkswagen AG will likely be the most dynamic players - with a heavy assault mounted by some upstart challengers.

"The industry's epicentre is shifting to emerging markets from the mature markets of North American and Western Europe," said Carlos Gomes, Scotiabank economist and auto industry specialist, in his monthly outlook report on the auto industry.

Production capacity in the so-called BRIC countries will surge to 20 million vehicles this year, Mr. Gomes said, exceeding the 17.4 million vehicles that can be built in North America. In fact, almost 90 per cent of the new investment in assembly plants made in the past five years has been outside the three traditional markets, he said...

Note the General there.

Posted by markc at March 28, 2008 07:19 AM