Petrol Stop - Tata Motors to roll out entry-level JLR models to drive up volumes

Tata Motors to roll out entry-level JLR models to drive up volumes

Wednesday, 01 September 2010

02 Sept 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:MUMBAI: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the luxury car brands owned by Tata Motors, will launch a slew of entry-level cars including a station wagon and a roadster to boost volumes across markets. The operations of JLR, which Tata Motors bought in 2008 from Ford Motor for $2.3 billion, have been profitable over the past two quarters, the company’s chairman said at its annual general meeting. “JLR’s performance has vindicated my confidence,” said chairman Ratan Tata at the company’s 65th annual general meeting. Tata Motors is looking at integrating platforms with JLR to bring in economies of scale. Tata Motors is also ramping up commercial vehicle capacity at its Dharwad plant, especially for the Ace, a small truck, which is used as a passenger carrier, and bus models to meet the growing demand in the recent months. The auto maker plans to invest close to `2,880 crore for developing new products for the next three years. Two years after the launch of the Nano — the cheapest car in the world — Tata Motors plans to launch more variants in the Indian markets which will include, the electric, diesel, a larger engined model and also models aimed at the UK and US markets. Currently the company has sold close to 50,000 Nanos in the Indian market. Globally, Tata Motors is the 19th largest auto company by sales and the 15th largest commercial vehicle company, said Mr Tata. The company is stepping up its focus on international markets such as Africa, Russia, China and the Middle East for growth, Mr Tata said. “We hope to increase market share in these economies and widen the passenger car and the commercial vehicles range,” he said. Tata Motors also intends to increase the number of executive directors on the board. This is in line with the arrangement at other companies in the Tata fold where three or four functional heads, who run strategic business units, have positions on the board. At present, the Tata Motors board comprises four non-executive directors, seven independent directors and two executive directors. R Gopalakrishnan, a director of Tata Sons, the group’s holding company, has stepped down as a director of Tata Motors The maker of Nano cars in March had appointed Carl-Peter Forster, a General Motors veteran, as its CEO. His appointment was ratified by shareholders on Wednesday.