Ford bought Jaguar & Land Rover for $5 Billion and may sell it for $2 Billion to Tata:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai.../cnford104.xml

__________________

*Apathy rules

*unless apathy doesn't rule

how is this about world or about religion (Shiva)? Wouldn't this be more suitable in the Business section?

Tata seems to have done another major deal, but who knows if even they overpaid? They seem to have overpaid for Corus Steel last year when they got into a big bidding war with CSN of Brazil. But now that they do own Corus, they are the 5th largest steel company in the world... nifty.

Ratan Tata is certainly a visionary. While he is buying these luxury brands, he has also been busy designing India's (and world's?) cheapest car costing little over $2000. He's betting big on that project too.

So the big question is: Can Tata pull off a turnaround in Jaguar and Land Rover when even Ford couldn't do it?

If the answer is yes, then well, this is a steal! If not, Tata is laying a huge goose egg.

In all the acquisitions so far, Tata has proved that it can make them profitable and increase the value of the business. Tetley-Tata tea is doing good business as one of the largest tea companies in the world; VSNL is now one of the largest if not the largest telecom backbone provider after Tata bought it from the Indian government; in the car business, Tata has in the past teamed up with some European companies and designed the Tata Indigo, which is one of the best-selling cars in India. Tata Motors also previously bought out Daiwoo Motors' bus division, as also the bus division of a Spanish company and is now a big player in that market. So there is certainly a successful track record here.

Those who want to bet either way can do so on the NYSE, where Tata Motors trade using ticker symbol TTM.

__________________
New term of the day 1/24:
Electile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either of only parties in the 2008 election year.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html


5/22, because i'm feeling punny:
As the great Jedi English teacher was quoted in saying, "metaphors be with you."

oh, and unlike almost any other for-profit and successful conglomerate around the world, Tata is majority owned by the Tata Sons charitable trust and puts back a lot of money into charitable causes.

Tata's history is quite fascinating, for those interested in such things. Its in similar category as Carnegie and Rockefeller is in U.S. as far as its impact to India goes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Sons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group

__________________
New term of the day 1/24:
Electile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either of only parties in the 2008 election year.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html


5/22, because i'm feeling punny:
As the great Jedi English teacher was quoted in saying, "metaphors be with you."

My only emissions are a divine wind.

Indeed this is at heart a business story but I put this news story here on "World" because of the discussion regarding Western/Christian vs. non-Western/non-Christian. I thought it was ironic that the former British manufacturer which is now owned by an American company would be bought by people from a former British colony which is largely non-Christian.

I read about Tata in Forbes or Business Week last spring and then I saw a Tata pick-up in Slovakia last summer. Basically a small truck in line with many of the Japanese and American models.

__________________

*Apathy rules

*unless apathy doesn't rule

The doors of perception are OPEN! I'll never think of "wind" in the same way again.

Hmmm, God has only one testicle, Shiva has wind. I look forward to more divine revelations on PB.

__________________

*Apathy rules

*unless apathy doesn't rule

Good points, CPV.

__________________
New term of the day 1/24:
Electile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either of only parties in the 2008 election year.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html


5/22, because i'm feeling punny:
As the great Jedi English teacher was quoted in saying, "metaphors be with you."

Adlerian, that's now your work, is it? I see a web link for that artwork. Looks good.

__________________
New term of the day 1/24:
Electile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either of only parties in the 2008 election year.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html


5/22, because i'm feeling punny:
As the great Jedi English teacher was quoted in saying, "metaphors be with you."

No, but in real life I'm a pretty good painter, and have done some paintings of Krishna and his wife!

I just love these kind of paintings.

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/...HDDsEEUOVVUw--


India's Tata unveils world's cheapest car

by Penny MacRae Thu Jan 10, 12:46 PM ET


NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's Tata Group unveiled Thursday the world's cheapest car costing 2,500 dollars amid predictions the no-frills vehicle could revolutionise how millions in India and elsewhere travel.

The launch of the Tata Nano was a landmark in the history of transportation, claimed 70-year-old tycoon Ratan Tata, the head of the giant conglomerate, while rejecting fears the spartan car would add to congestion and pollution.
The four-door, five-seat sporty-looking car, which defied pre-launch predictions that it would be little more than a "motorised bullock cart on wheels", is due to hit the roads later this year at just 100,000 rupees (2,500 US dollars), excluding tax, after the Tata Group cut costs to the bone.
The theme from Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey" played as Tata unveiled the snub-nosed Nano -- so called to appear both high-tech and small -- to cheers and applause at the annual Delhi car show.
The Tata chief, who drove a white Nano to the podium, said he had wanted to make "a safe, affordable and all-weather transport -- a people's car, designed to meet all safety standards and emissions laws and accessible to all."
The Nano has a two-cylinder 623 cc, rear-mounted engine with a top speed of 105 kilometres (65 miles) per hour. The basic model has a four-speed manual transmission, no air conditioning, electric windows or power steering, although two deluxe versions will be available.
The Nano initially targets increasingly affluent Indians trading up from a motorcycle to a car amid an economic boom, but there are plans to enter other emerging markets such as Latin America.
Tata, likened by India's media to US automobile pioneer Henry Ford, compared the importance of the vehicle, nicknamed the "People's Car", to the first powered flight by the Wright brothers or the first lunar landing.
"I observed families riding on two-wheelers, the father driving the scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife seated behind him holding a little baby," Tata told reporters at the crowded launch.
"It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family," he said.
Soaring commodity prices had pushed up costs during the car's four-year development, but Tata said he had wanted to keep his pledge of a 100,000-rupee price tag, although tax will make the onroad price at least 120,000 rupees.
The businessman argued the new car -- less than half the price of its nearest budget car rival on Indian roads -- would be better and safer than most motorcycles.
"The car we have designed will meet all the current safety requirements... and will have a lower pollution level than even a two-wheeler being manufactured in India today," he said.
Courier driver Daniel Abraham said the Nano appealed to him as a transport option.
"If I can get a loan from my boss, I might buy the car so my family and I could travel. I can't take my mother on my motorcycle any more -- she's too old," he said.
But environmentalists fear the Nano will jam up India's already clogged roads even further and add to choking pollution if it proves a winner.
"In my view this represents a bankruptcy of policy as far as transport options are concerned," said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN's climate panel which won the Nobel Prize last year.

"If our roads are going to be flooded with these cars by a few million each year, what is that going to do? Every car that goes on the road is going to use road space. We're only adding to congestion" and increasing pollution, he said.
Tata said he believed "India desperately needs a mass transit system" but asked "should (ordinary Indians) be denied the right to individual forms of transport?"
Auto analysts say the Nano could have a major impact on the way global car firms think about costs.
It may "revolutionise car costs downward," said Indian auto analyst Murad Ali Baig, adding that the Nano was bound to be followed by other low-cost cars.
The car has sparked a race among global automakers to come up with vehicles at rock-bottom prices to appeal to the new lucrative segment of consumers in India and other emerging markets.
"It is unlikely to keep this market for itself for too long," said Ian Fletcher, auto analyst at London-based Global Insight.
Small cars comprise two-thirds of annual passenger vehicle sales in India. The budget car's nearest rival -- the Maruti 800 from Japanese-owned Maruti Suzuki -- sells for 4,800 dollars.
Tata, which has been on an aggressive overseas expansion drive, is also expected to win its reported two-billion-dollar bid for the British Land Rover and Jaguar brands. That would put it in the unusual position of making two prestige marques and the world's lowest-cost car.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080110...o_080110172817

__________________
New term of the day 1/24:
Electile Dysfunction: The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either of only parties in the 2008 election year.
http://www.votenader.org/index.html


5/22, because i'm feeling punny:
As the great Jedi English teacher was quoted in saying, "metaphors be with you."