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Atomic Rooster · Mar 25, 2008, 11:15 PM

Tata to announce Jaguar purchase.

Ford put Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale last June
Car giant Ford is to sell its luxury UK-based car marques Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian company Tata.

BBC NEWS | Business | Tata to announce Jaguar purchase

I wonder if they'll move some production to India. Labour and environmental laws are lax and wages cheap.

Made in Inja.

turtle777 · Mar 25, 2008, 11:39 PM

I'm not surprised.

However, I don't think Tata is so dumb to cheapen the brand too much by moving stuff to India right away.
That would damage the brand, for which they paid a lot of money.

-t

OldManMac · Mar 26, 2008, 12:01 AM

This is just some quick cash to temporarily buoy up Ford. In the long run they, like Chrysler, are finished.

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster

Made in Inja.

HUH? Is this an attempt at humor?

Atomic Rooster · Mar 26, 2008, 12:40 AM

Originally Posted by Railroader

HUH? Is this an attempt at humor?

Do I have to get you booted again, derailroader?

sek929 · Mar 26, 2008, 12:45 AM

lolz, buy a Toyota Tundra... Designed in the USA and built in Illinois.

Or buy a GMC 1500....made in Mexico.

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster

Do I have to get you booted again, derailroader?

By making semi-racist comments? Go right ahead Mr. Wanna-be-mod.

How about you explain your word usage above in your first post.

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 12:59 AM

Originally Posted by sek929

lolz, buy a Toyota Tundra... Designed in the USA and built in Illinois.

Or buy a GMC 1500....made in Mexico.

Not all GMC 1500s are made in Mexico.

I'll admit I don't know about the Toyotas.

Cipher13 · Mar 26, 2008, 01:01 AM

Well ****.

No new Defender for me.

sek929 · Mar 26, 2008, 01:04 AM

Ok Rail. I'll give you that on the fact I was exaggerating a tad. It's almost a 50/50 chance your 1500 is made in Mexico or Detrot to the best of my recollection? A good family friend got a 2005 1500 and it was from Mexico. It's a smooth, well crafted vehicle but my original point stands.

The HD models are usually assembled in America. Certainly since their trannys and Diesels are US brands.

The 2008 Toyota Tundra is built in a $2 bil facility in Illinois. It also was designed by a US team, the Japanese don't really understand the American entry level work truck. The previous Tundra was still a kiddie toy, but the new one...wowza.

Atomic Rooster · Mar 26, 2008, 01:13 AM

Originally Posted by Railroader

By making semi-racist comments? Go right ahead Mr. Wanna-be-mod.

How about you explain your word usage above in your first post.

You obviously never seen those old English movies loverboi.

Now vamoose.

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 01:14 AM

Originally Posted by sek929

Ok Rail. I'll give you that on the fact I was exaggerating a tad. It's almost a 50/50 chance your 1500 is made in Mexico or Detrot to the best of my recollection? A good family friend got a 2005 1500 and it was from Mexico. It's a smooth, well crafted vehicle but my original point stands.

The HD models are usually assembled in America. Certainly since their trannys and Diesels are US brands.

The 2008 Toyota Tundra is built in a $2 bil facility in Illinois. It also was designed by a US team, the Japanese don't really understand the American entry level work truck. The previous Tundra was still a kiddie toy, but the new one...wowza.

Country of origin for GM's 1500 Chevrolet Silverado - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Flint, Michigan
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Pontiac, Michigan
Silao, Mexico
Toluca, Mexico

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 01:15 AM

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster

You obviously never seen those old English movies loverboi.

Now vamoose.

Please explain.

Atomic Rooster · Mar 26, 2008, 01:16 AM

Go away railboi.

Doofy · Mar 26, 2008, 01:17 AM

If any Jags or Landies are made in India, it'll cheapen the brands to the extent that they simply won't sell in Europe.

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 01:41 AM

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster

Go away railboi.

After you explain your use of that word.

Atomic Rooster · 01:52 AM

???????

Demonhood · Mar 26, 2008, 02:41 AM

enough. ignore each other.

Kerrigan · Mar 26, 2008, 02:48 AM

I'll jump in. "Inja" is a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation of India in which the "d" and "i" form a "j" sound as happens in certain British accents. An instance of this is when idiot is pronounced "ijit".

Peter · Mar 26, 2008, 05:57 AM

how to kill the brand of Jaguar and Land Rover.
it was bad enough it went from british to american. from american to indian?! no thanks.

Doofy · Mar 26, 2008, 06:08 AM

Of course, the main problem with Jag and Landie is that Ford got hold of them and put their design cues all over the place because they don't understand the target market. Check out the XK - it's full of Ford design cues. In an effort to increase production levels and sell more (to urban blingers and the like), they alienated their core customer base.

It's like Iron Maiden stopped playing Iron Maiden songs and came out with Britney type stuff in order to appeal to a larger fan-base.

OreoCookie · Mar 26, 2008, 06:10 AM

Is there any real British car manufacturer left?
(As much as I like Lotus, small companies that produce 100 roadsters per year don't count.)

Doofy · Mar 26, 2008, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by OreoCookie

Is there any real British car manufacturer left?
(No, small companies that produce 100 roadsters per year don't count. Even though I really like Lotus

)

Nope. We've only got boutique makers now (Morgan, McLaren, Marcos, Noble, etc..).

And aren't Lotus owned by the Malaysians?

That's what you get with a bunch of marxists running the place and killing industry.

badidea · Mar 26, 2008, 06:33 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

That's what you get with a bunch of marxists running the place and killing industry.

How do you explain then that some of your car manufacturers are owned by German companies now?

Doofy · Mar 26, 2008, 07:36 AM

Originally Posted by badidea

How do you explain then that some of your car manufacturers are owned by German companies now?

Language differences. The German language (AFAIK) generates a certain amount of inherent precision of thought which even marxism can't destroy. This translates into quality products and a good work ethic, even if unions are involved.

The English language has no such feature.

Mastrap · Mar 26, 2008, 09:25 AM

Excellent. This means that now old, proper, Land Rovers are an investment and I can sell it as such to my wife. It's not a toy, it's retirement planning.

ghporter · Mar 26, 2008, 09:35 AM

I didn't see anything about moving plants in this deal. The Jaguar and Land Rover assembly plants are probably not going to be packed up and moved-any more than they were relocated to Michigan when Ford bought them. It's the front office stuff that's changing, not the manufacturing.

I think that Ford had a lot of influence on the styling of the current line of Jags, but I haven't seen any radical changes in Land Rover styling in the Ford years. I saw one Jag yesterday that looked like a Taurus-I was very sad about that. Of course I don't know if that car was as solid and heavy as the XJ I worked on many years ago-I had to drill a hole through the bulkhead at the front of the trunk (boot) AND in the firewall to run a power line to the battery because those bulkheads were SOLID.

Eug · Mar 26, 2008, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by Peter

how to kill the brand of Jaguar and Land Rover.
it was bad enough it went from british to american. from american to indian?! no thanks.

How to kill the brand of Jaguar and Land Rover... is to give them terrible reliability records compared to the competition... and that happened way before they were sold to Ford.

If anything Ford improved their reliability. Or in the very least, they didn't make it worse.

Big Mac · Mar 26, 2008, 11:00 AM

I once heard that Ford's ownership of Jaguar took the brand from the most defects in the industry to the fewest.

Eug · Mar 26, 2008, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

I once heard that Ford's ownership of Jaguar took the brand from the most defects in the industry to the fewest.

Yeah, I heard that Ford cleaned things up, but I don't know to what extent, and if that applies to all models.

Railroader · Mar 26, 2008, 11:12 AM

I was in the wedding of the son of the guy who was promoted to head of Jaguar engineering from Ford. We got to drive some nice pre-release Jaguars in the wedding. It was in 1997. This has nothing to do with this thread, but a neat fact that I remembered form this thread.

analogika · Mar 26, 2008, 02:38 PM

Originally Posted by Cipher13

Well ****.

No new Defender for me.

Why? You preferred when they *weren't* Commonwealth-owned?

ShortcutToMoncton · Mar 26, 2008, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Doofy

Language differences. The German language (AFAIK) generates a certain amount of inherent precision of thought which even marxism can't destroy. This translates into quality products and a good work ethic, even if unions are involved.

The English language has no such feature.

You being serious here?

analogika · Mar 26, 2008, 02:44 PM

Very, VERY doubtful.

Doofy · Mar 26, 2008, 02:58 PM

I was being serious. It's deep, deep psychology but what language a person thinks in does have a bearing on how they carry out their daily business. Obviously there's a variation in each language group (i.e. both layabouts and hard workers), but on average I believe it applies. It's why the Germans build solid, reliable but somewhat flairless cars and the Italians build heaps of crap which look good.

Combine that with the trade unions thing and that's why the British car industry has gone bump but the German one is still going strong. And it's why Germany has never come out with Carry On films.

analogika · Mar 26, 2008, 03:01 PM

Unions are traditionally very strong in Germany.

Yose · Mar 26, 2008, 03:17 PM

Yeah this was all over the Indian news this morning. I have to say good for them. I see Tata branding all over this country and I'm not at all surprised they are buying foreign brands. The Tata Sumo is pretty damn popular out here too!

P.S. I know very little about the auto market.