A load of crap from an idle brain

Anyone got spare change?

Finally, the beast and the beauty kept their rendezvous with India. The niche, but growing, club of luxury car owners on Sunday got a booster shot with Tata Motors ushering in the British auto icons Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) after almost a year of acquiring them from Ford Motor Co.

A hot cat, Bollywood hearthrob Hrithik Roshan owns a Jag, or any of the three Rover models Discovery 3, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport would cost anything between Rs 65 lakh to Rs 1 crore. A Tourbillion, the most expensive watch from the Dior stable, too comes at the higher end of that range.

Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata said, “This launch heralds the entry of Jaguar Land Rover brands in India. The brands in days gone by were well received in India. However, in the last few years, they had been disconnected with consumers here.”

The India foray comes at a time when worldwide sales of luxury cars are falling. The global meltdown dragged JLR into huge losses as consumers halted purchases. Sales, after the $2.5 billion takeover by Tata Motors last June, dropped a third to 1.67 lakh vehicles.

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Its official. India’s Tata Motors has finally bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motors. The exact pricing is to be unveiled today. But estimates are around 1 billion pounds. Finally after months of intense negotiations, Tata Motors will lay hands on two of the world’s most iconic automobile brands. The product profile of Tata Motors will now include the world’s cheapest car, Nano to expensive products like the Jaguar and Land Rover.

Earlier, there was news that Ratan Tata was interested in taking a stake in Ferrari. With this deal, the Tata group now holds on to some of the most iconic brands in the world which include Corus Steel, Tetley Tea, Ritz Carlton hotel in Boston, Jaguar and Land Rover.

Thousands of workers at Jaguar and Land Rover plants are expected to be told today that the marques have been sold to the Indian conglomerate Tata.

It is understood that a deal between Tata and Ford over the sale of two of the best known names in British car making was concluded last night after months of painstaking negotiations.

Ford refused to confirm a deal had been signed last night, saying any significant development had to be communicated to employees first. However, formal confirmation that the two sides have reached agreement is expected via simultaneous announcements in India, Britain and the US at around noon GMT today.

The companies have been in detailed negotiations for almost three months after Tata emerged as the leading bidder, ahead of rivals One Equity, a private equity concern, and automotive group Mahindra and Mahindra.

Yesterday the two sides were refusing to be drawn on reports from India that Tata had agreed to pay $2.65bn (£1.3bn) for the marques. The Reuters news agency quoted a source close to the deal as saying: “That figure of $2.65bn is highly unlikely. You have to come south from that by quite a bit.”

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The world’s fourth largest air force, The Indian Air Force (IAF) turned 75 years today. Wanna fight?

Jaguar 21

A Mig-29, keeping our offshore oil rigs safe.

Mirage 2000, flying in formation

The almighty Sukhoi -Su30MK1, armed to the teeth.

All pictures courtesy: Bharat Rakshak

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