Tata found a niche and has made cars in that niche. You're right.

However, buying expensive hotels (while making cheap cars) is a far cry from MAKING a luxury off-road vehicle. Do you not see this??

Tata has supposedly purchased 400 acres or something in India to build a factory. It is not known though if all models will be made in India or if some will still be made in England. My guess is that they'll stay in England, then slowly start making there new cars in India, see how it goes, and eventually have everything built in India.

Ford may have gotten out before the collapse of LR. Although LR has been relatively profitable over the last few years, with the current rocketing gas prices, the profit will soon disappear. Every SUV brand out there currently (including Toyota) is suffering from declining sales...and for a brand that only has SUVs (e.g. Land Rover), this is a major problem! As for Ford lack of performance, let's not forget that BMW tried to fix LR and had to dump at a loss to Ford. Remember, Ford was much nicer to LR than BMW...BMW took over LR and abused it and took what little technology LR had and ran with it. Ford did what Tata now promises...ran LR from afar (as a Premier Auto Group), letting them develop their own identity. Hopefully, Tata can learn from Ford's mistake(s).

In addition, before taking over LR, Ford had plenty of experience building SUVs and luxury vehicle. Tata has neither at this point.

In other words, it does NOT look good for LR (and Jaguar) anyway you look at it.

Yeah, you can spin your web and talk about Tata's accomplishments, but in the end, Tata Motors:

1. is an Indian company...whether you like it or not, this does not carry with it a good public image to an average luxury car consumer, esp. in a time where outsourcing to India (good or bad) is frowned upon by the general public.
2. has no experience in making SUVs.
3. has no experience in making luxury vehicles.
4. has no experience in making off-road vehicles.
5. has no automotive heritage whatsoever to back up the image of Land Rover, which is sadly, the only thing that LR has left before this buyout.
6. and, finally, has just a weird name...Tata....

 

Educated yourself before you say something like this. Tata sells in Italy, Nepal, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and Sri Lanka.

They do make suvs and pickups as well. Commerical vehicles such as buses, dump trucks etc.

Very limited and uneducated way of thinking.

 

Maybe you should read again my post...what does this have to do with what i said??? I was talking about the perception of an Indian-owned company by the general public. What are YOU talking about??

Buses and dump trucks are hardly off-road luxury SUVs, right??

The last statement is pretty funny given your previous "reviews" of the LX570! Good try.

Hint...next time, you may want to try and understand what a person writes before responding...it makes you look more intelligent.

 

So what if a company from India owns a car brand that is used all over the world. I send a service to India EVERY business day and I have never had a American, Canadian, Mexican EVER complain about the quality of service. I WILL not pay someone in North America four to five times as much to do a service that my business needs if someone else somewhere else will do it a 20% of the cost. WITH the same quality.

No need. You just need to educate yourself on what Tata builds.

 

Do you even read what people post??!! Seriously, is there a reading comprehension problem here??? READ MY POSTS AGAIN. Who is talking about quality?? I am talking about PERCEPTION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

So, are you saying that there is no negative perception about outsourcing jobs to India??

 

Outsourcing to India and Tata buying LR are two different things..

I have no problem outsourcing simple meaningless jobs overseas for a fraction of the cost compared to paying for the job in North America.

Yes there is a bit of a negative preception but to those poor folks who lost their job to some person in another country...find a new job.

 

[QUOTE][So, are you saying that there is no negative perception about outsourcing jobs to India??/QUOTE]

I have no [B]negativeB] perception of this. I am all for sending any unskilled job to India or anywhere else for a fraction of the cost if it benefits myself or my customer.

I am all for outsourcing car manufacturing to India if it brings me a car that is cheaper to buy but of the same quality as one build in North America. As for those who lose there jobs in North America because of outsourcing....TOUGH LUCK. find something else to do.

 

pagemaster, you're beginning to sound like an elite ***. BTW, outsourcing involves skilled and unskilled jobs. Do you consider computer engineers unskilled??? You better open your eyes instead of being such a *****. You're showing your ignorance and arrogance.

There are millions of Americans who are losing their jobs...and you're here telling them to find something else?? Not everyone is as lucky as you, pagemaster.

BTW, what do you do for a living?

 

Well I am not for someone losing there job it simply is a part of doing business. I do have to say that to be competitive today, a company has adapt to the changing ways of doing business. I personally was just recently involved with the decision to terminate a position at my place of employment. Our buisness just simply could not justify and support the position that had been there for over 18 years.

Did we outsource it? YES WE DID. We found an independant company within North America that will do the job for half the cost.

No offence to any computer engineer out there. If I can find someone who will do the same quality job for $15 per hour and do the same job that the computer engineer charges in North America for $30 per hour. I WILL BE going the cheaper route. This is the way it works in ANY smart business venture.

Almost all companies outsource work to another business in some way or form that specializes in that field. I have dealt with companies in Canada, US, South America and yes India to take care of some type of work that we do not deal with in house. I have yet to have any problem with these companies and I have had no complaints with quality of work.

This is from Tata USA:

Now that the Tata Sons' North America office has completed three years, it is a good time to stop, take a deep breath, and review the significant gains made by the Tata Group in the United States during this time.

Over the past three years, the Tata Group has become India's first truly global business group. International revenues are expected to top 60 per cent this year and the international workforce is approaching 30 per cent of the total — we can definitely be considered a global company by any standards. The primary reason for this is the acquisition of Corus Steel and its tremendous global assets. But if you look at the Tata presence in the United States, you will see that the US has contributed its fair share to the Group's worldwide growth.

We now have Taj luxury hotels in three major US cities — New York, Boston and San Francisco; Corus/Tata Steel manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania; SerWizSol* call centres employing hundreds of US citizens in northern Florida and in the heart of Appalachia; engineering work being done by TCS and INCAT for major automotive and aerospace companies; a massive undersea Tata Communications broadband cable network circling the globe; and Tetley, Good Earth Teas and Eight O'Clock coffee products in nearly every supermarket across the country. In fact, I am especially delighted when I pick up a Tetley Tea canister in my local grocery store and see "A Tata Enterprise" printed on its side.




As for my employee. Although the employee lost his job position he was offered to be moved within the organization but would have to take on a different job description. No word yet on what the employee wants to do...


To get back on topic. It was the right move by Ford to dump the brand if they were not going to integrate the Land Rover brand with their domestic trucks/suvs. At least engine and chassis etc. With Tata purchasing the brand I am not sure what they plan to do but I can't see Land Rover going as a company only selling high end suvs and some Jaguars...they need to change.

 

Seriously, is there a reading comprehension to what i originally wrote?? You're apparently some big boss, yet you don't seem to understand what other people are trying to say!! Your employee must love you! When the hell did i say that outsourcing jobs result in poor quality??!! When did i say that it was not cheaper??!! Are we even on the same page here, pagemaster??

PLEASE READ AGAIN MY ORIGINAL POST ON THIS MATTER. I am talking about US public perception of the matter, NOT the quality nor the cost of such. I don't give a rat's *** whether your company can save a penny here or there by outsourcing. And to think, YOU were the one that was accusing me of being uneducated????? Are you serious?? Dude, learn to read and comprehend FIRST before jumping on someone's post!

BTW, to help you understand the public perception, here is one of many videos making fun of the matter: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/9b1f347a7e

The fact that LR is owned by an Indian company will irk some/many people due to the growing fear of things being operated/owned from India (or China for that matter). And as noted in my original post, if LR production goes to India in the near future, then i think that it is the end of LR in the US.

For example, just the fact that Michelin (and thus, BFG) is a French company has irked a few people on my 4runner (and FJ) forum from buying Michelin products. We all know that Michelin makes great tires. But that still does not change the fact that some Americans will not buy a French product. Is it wrong or right? I don't care...i am just stating what the reality is.

I don't think that i can be any clearer in what i wrote. I would hope that a high executive like you can understand such simple words.

 

that video explains it!! Also, anyone who uses e-fax and calls the customer service center??? I make my assistant do it now!!

I'm hearing you tigmd!

 

Wont be irking me. I have no problem with Tata owning LR. Last time I checked, Ford cars are crap and LR reliability is the worst of the worst....so it looks like LR can only benefit from Tata owning the brand.

silly people

 

That was what people said when BMW took over LR from the British. Then, the same talk when Ford took over. It seems to me that LR needs a whole turn-around from top to bottom. Unfortunately, if Tata does this, then it will only hurt LR's heritage and public perception even more, which Tata cannot afford. But, if there is no major change, then LR will continue on it's miserable ways as one of the worst reliable cars in the US. It's a no win situation for Tata IMHO. This may explain why there were not many big auto manufacturers running to buy LR.

 

Being a Range Rover owner I can tell you that most of the owners aren't going to stop buying just because of TATA. What I have found in the ownership circle is that owners are VERY loyal (much like Lexus owners). Most of the people on my forum aren't excited about the sale but will own another.

I am proof of this now. I used to ponder a switch and I was the originator of this thread. However, the more time I spend with my Rover, the more I am sure that at least one Range Rover will always be in my garage. I really love it and can't seem owning any other car in the class.

The fact is that Range Rover still is considered to be the most capable and prestigious off-road vehicle on the market by A LOT of people. And this will more than likely continue even though the company was yet again purchased.

 

You mean rangerovers.net?? Well, from what i remember, there were more than a few people thinking about trading in their RR when Tata was a possible buyer. Actually, if you look on that forum, there are plenty of people getting tired of all the issues with their RR. There are more than a few that swear that this is their last RR. I am sure that you see these threads too on that forum.

As for the 2nd sentence above, the people believe that are quite delusional. Most capable?? Hmmm, i would not go that far. Prestigious or not, LR is now no longer British by any shot of the imagination...their heritage has taken a big blow.