Ford sells Jaguar/Land Rover to India's Tata
 

Wow.

You have to wonder what Tata will do with them. I do know that Land Rover is definitely resting on its reputation, which is going downhill fast. I asked a few owners at work about their Land Rovers and the obscenity count per sentence was very high.

It's too bad I always Jaguars were so good-looking, and after Ford bought the company, they never WORKED better, even if they weren't so "pure" anymore.

I fancied putting a small-block a sedan when I was a kid. And I still think that the XK120/140's were some of the best looking mass-produced cars ever made. OTOH, the recent X-type is a horrid, squished parody of the past. The resale value/depreciation on these makes Kia's like solid investments!

Anyone with any ideas on their future, if any?

http://ridingtheelephant.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/03/25/tata-buys-into-trouble/

So could Tata succeed where others have failed? There’s reason for optimism. Ratan Tata isn’t expected to treat Jaguar and Land Rover like a traditional takeover: He says he’s not planning to overhaul senior management, close factories in Britain, or cut workers. And he doesn’t seem all that interested in instant profits – just as he doesn’t expect instant returns from the tiny Nano car he hopes to launch by year’s end. Instead, he is expected to use the brands and their U.K. plants, executives and labor to help build Tata Motors, which had $7.2 billion sales in fiscal 2007, into a global car company. His been on this mission for several years, buying Britain’s Tetley Tea in 2000, a Korea-based Daewoo truck plant in 2004, and steel giant Corus (previously British Steel) last year.

It's a secret ploy on Ford's part to hobble any potential future competitors . . . . Stick them with companies and products that will sap them of all potential profits.

Who knows, perhaps in the coming years we'll see entry-level Jaguars priced at $5-6,000!

the name says it all"tata"!

Looks like the Indians have picked-up a nice pair in England.

Next year they'll change the name to "Ciao, baby!"

Heck can Tata do any worse? LR and Jaguar are like bastard royalty. Highly touted names that will never be king.

Maybe like Richard III.

India has tata's? would they be bodacious?

If they ARE bodacious Tatas, they should do well. Those are ALWAYS in style, always popular.

Unlike Ford I think Tata is going to take this a little more seriously. Unfortunately for them the slightest screw up (like a recall) is going to end up amplified on ever major publication and news program in the world and people will conveniently forget how bad things were with Ford.

Ha!

The weird thing about this, quality for Jags went up while under Fords control.

I was under the impression that things greatly improved under Ford's ownership. Is that not the case?