Tata Motors to bag Jaguar, Land Rover by early March
Tata Motors is set to take over Ford Motor Co's British luxury brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, in early March, following successful conclusion of talks with the automaker's labor union in UK, Unite.
According to Dave Osborne, national secretary for the union, the "members' long-term future is best served by Tata." The Unite union represents about 12,000 workers at Land Rover and Jaguar factories.
Tata Motors, which had outbid Mahindra & Mahindra and One Equity with a $2 billion-plus offer, has assured the union officials that it will continue to source engines and other components manufactured at Ford's British manufacturing facilities which are in south Wales and Dagenham in London and that there will be no layoffs.
"We do believe that Tata Motors, in the event of a sale...offers the best alternative for our people in the UK," Osborne said. "It's a cash-rich company. It's got experience in manufacturing in the automotive industry. It's got a substantial presence in other industries in the U.K."
"They (Tata) totally ruled out offloading Jaguar or building Land Rovers in India," Osborne said, adding that Tata has agreed to keep employment in the UK around the current 15,300.
According to Osborne, Tata has also agreed to stick with the Jaguar-Land Rover business plan through 2011. After that, the Indian automaker has expressed interest in growing the company and even adding workers in the UK, he said.
"The manufacturing footprint will remain unaltered," he said. "The engineering and design studios will remain. There's no plans outside of the business plan to source any more components from low-cost economies."
Osborne said Tata is confident in the British automakers, despite challenges of meeting new carbon dioxide emissions standards in Europe. There is growth potential in emerging markets, he said.
"There seems to be a relative air of confidence from the company rather than talk about reductions in employment levels post-2012," he said.
According to Roger Maddison, national officer of Unite, "the sooner everything goes through, the better," as "the workforces are beginning to get anxious."
- 1 Bharti Airtel launches DTH satellite television service, offers superior technology, content
- 2 Kareena and Akshay in Venice: Ready, Action !
- 3 BSE Sensex plunges over 7 percent, closes at its lowest in 27 months
- 4 Infosys not to raise Axon bid, rival HCL set to make largest overseas IT acquisition
- 5 US President Bush signs historic India-US nuclear agreement into law, 123 Agreement to be signed today
- 6 Happy Mother Jolies breastfeeding
- 7 Meg Ryan at the Middle East International Film Festival
- 1 Infosys Technologies posts 30.2 percent jump in net profit, cuts growth forecast
- 2 Market welcomes RBI's CRR cut but wants more
- 3 Infosys not to raise Axon bid, rival HCL set to make largest overseas IT acquisition
- 4 India govt. moves to rescue domestic market as RBI announces CRR cut, FinMin promises more
- 5 BSE Sensex plunges over 7 percent, closes at its lowest in 27 months
- 6 US President Bush signs historic India-US nuclear agreement into law, 123 Agreement to be signed today
- 7 Ranabaxy shares soar after US government withdraws motion
- 1 Infosys Technologies posts 30.2 percent jump in net profit, cuts growth forecast
- 2 Infosys not to raise Axon bid, rival HCL set to make largest overseas IT acquisition
- 3 Ranabaxy shares soar after US government withdraws motion
- 4 Spanco, Spice partners to set up India's largest domestic BPO
- 5 Bharti Airtel launches DTH satellite television service, offers superior technology, content
- 6 Bharti Airtel set to foray into India's DTH market, to launch Airtel Digital TV from Oct. 9
- 7 Spanco inks JV with Spice Group to form new domestic BPO
|
|
|
