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As had been announced in March, Jaguar & Land Rover operations have been sold over to Tata Motors by Ford Motor Co officially on June 2nd. Ford said in March that it intended to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata for $2.3 billion. (That’s far less than what Ford paid for the brands. Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.75 billion in 2000.) Tata Motors which had been looking for a way to broaden its global automotive presence had leaped up on the offer. Now, all the red tape pertaining to the sale has been completed and Jaguar & Land Rover brands are finally owned by Tata Motors. The automaker is controlled by Tata Group, a privately held Indian industrial conglomerate with 98 operating companies in industries such as heavy trucks, energy, chemicals, communications and engineering. It remains to be seen in the near and not so distant future what Tata does with the brands and how it turns out, for now, nothing major has been announced.

Technorati Tags: cars, mercedes, auto, India, india auto, cng, fuel, economics, luxury, petrol

One of the most iconic and luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz has decided to bring in a car in to India which runs on the cheapest Auto fuel in the world, compressed natural gas (CNG). Now, this makes the CNG-compliant benz cars more fuel efficient than India’s cheapest cars Maruti 800 which run on petrol. Get this, the new CNG variant of the Merc runs over 20 KM on a KG of CNG against it petrol brethren which guzzle at least a litre for every 12 KM’s. And the good news doesn’t end there if you consider that CNG comes at half the price - Rs 19 (US 0.5$) against Rs 45.52 (just a tad more than 1US$).

Well, Mercedes is making its intentions clear with this, as energy crisis grips the world and speculations mount about hefty fuel price hikes, CNG has taken center stage in Mercedes’s India plans at least if not for the world.

“We have some cars running on CNG in India. It’s a successful technology and has been developed over the years. We are also trying the bio-diesel option on the E Class saloon here. If these extensive trials are successful, we shall introduce these cars in India too,” said a Daimler India senior executive.

—Source—> Economic Times Article.

1. BMW Formula1:

   BMW Formula-1 car to use hybrid technology from next year

   BMW AG has announced that they are working on developing hybrid technology to enhance the capabilities of their Formula-1 car.

   This technology is currently planned for integration in their car to be used in the next Formula-1 season.

   The company said that as per the rules of the F-1 governing body, they are going to rely on hybrid technologies to boost the performance of their car.

   The rules allow the teams to boost the power of their cars using fuel saving technologies, including hybrid.

   Mario Theissen, director of motor sport at BMW said in his statement: “From 2009 BMW will use hybrid technology in Formula One.”

   — Source –> Business Techwhack

2. BMW Automotives:After Fiat, BMW is planning to source its auto components in India. As part of the German luxury car makers massive expansion plans in India, it is currently aiming at high level of auto component sourcing in India. BMW also plans to source engineering services and IT technologies in future for development of its cars worldwide.

   According to Herbert Deiss, BMW Board Member, International Parts Sourcing, “India is an important market for us and we recognise its engineering talent. We already source some components for bikes and auto parts for some of our cars and bikes from India. Considering the increasing capabilities of Indian vendors to provide quality spares, we plan to source more parts and services from the country.”

   — Source –> Car Trade India

1. Jaguar XF Sport: Looks like the the now Indian owned Jaguar Motors has a very bright future ahead of it and the Tata’s might well benefit from it, the timing for the takeover of Jaguar couldn’t have been better because Jaguar had just launched it’s new XF sport series. The XF cars are not only stunning to look at but they are also stunning to drive and rumor has it that the XF series car might just be launched here in India. The rumor is un-confirmed but the fact that the XF’s are great machines is not. You may not be an auto buff and you may not have the money to buy a Jag, but the Jag XF’s sure are worth considering.
2. BMW M3 Series launched in India: Meanwhile, it just may not matter weather the XF series is launched here in India or not, because if you are luxury car freak with an insatiable appetite for performance as well, look no further, the BMW M3 series is here in India. The M3 cars were officially launched in January 08. BMW M3 will be sold as CBU (complete built unit), in limited numbers, and has been priced around Rs 74 lakh!!(whew).So, if you want a car with stunning looks, smooth performance and unbridled fun, BMW M3 is just the thing for you!

Talking of Jaguar, any motor sport aficionado immediately remembers that Jaguar is the only car that has won the ‘Le Mans’ 6 times! Le Mans is a 24 hours race and most motor sport enthusiasts, pundits will tell you that Le Mans is THE most grueling in Motor sport. So every one was shocked a bit at least Ford put up Jaguar and even Land Rover brands up for sale. And as was rumored since some time now, Jaguar and Land Rover brands were to be sold to Tata Motors. The deal was officially confirmed by both sides yesterday on 26th March. Yesterday, Ford officially announced it’s agreement to sell the brands to Tata Motors for aproximately 2.3billion$. Tata Motors can now boast of a range from as low as Rs 1 Lakh (approx 2500$) to 50 times that price at much more than hundred thousand$.

The irony of this is getting chuckles everywhere. India is now the second largest source of foreign investment in UK. And a company from England’s former colony has come to the aid of the ailing Jaguar & Land Rover brands which are seen as icons of British Luxury. To give you an idea of how iconic these brands are, the last time Tony Blair pulled out of 10 Downing street, he did so in a Jaguar and higher up the British Aristocracy, her majesty, the Queen of England Queen Elizabeth II herself uses a Land Rover to drive around the gardens in Windsor Castle.

Then, Jaguar has also competed 4 times in Formula1 championships. Though it’s performance was dismal in F1 with zero wins, zero pole positions, two podiums, a handful of points. In November of 2004, Ford finally sold of the Jaguar Racing to the energy drink giant, Red Bull and the team has since then be christened Red Bull Racing team. What I can’t help but wonder is: Will we see another Formula1 team in years to come by owned by an Indian? Will Tata motors ever reintroduce the Jaguar brand in F1 or even in other motorsports or better yet, will we see Tata F1 in the not so distant future? Only time will tell…

Anyway, as for the business angle, many blame Ford for the mess Jaguar is in now and a change of ownership is being viewed with optimism every where. Tata now can count itself amongst companies such as Daimler & Toyota who also have a full range portfolio. The jury seems to be divided on whether this is strength or a liability.

The ever positive and optimistic visionary business man - Ratan Tata had this to say:

Toyota created Lexus, Nissan has Infinity. No one is saying, ‘How can BMW handle the Mini?’ But they’ve made a huge success of it. So why is it impossible?