Tata Year 2008
They may well be making Jaguars and Land Rovers soon, but CNBC-TV 18's Indira Kannan reports that the Tatas are eyeing business beyond that in Detroit.
The automotive sector will be a major focus area for the Tata group in the United States in 2008 - and that's regardless of the final decision in the sale of Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover units. Tata Motors is widely expected to be named as the preferred bidder in the sale, and the Tatas expect to hear from Ford early in January. But for now, David P Good, Chief Representative, North America, Tata Sons, said, “I'm not going to go beyond what our chairman Mr Tata has said, which is that we've expressed interest, we've made a bid on Jaguar and Land Rover, and I think we're going to leave it at that. We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think we could do it and do it well.”
That last remark may be a dig at the Jaguar dealer who questioned whether American consumers would buy a luxury car from an Indian company. The Tata group, which manages three upscale hotels in the US, has also responded angrily to similar statements from luxury hospitality chain Orient Express Hotels recently. The Chief Spokesman of the Tatas in the United States admits that Americans don't know enough about the Indian multinational group yet.
Good said, “In the US what you find is that people who don't really know India don't know the Tatas very well. They know a lot of our products, that's very interesting, they know Tetley, Good Earth tea, 8 o'clock Coffee, the hotels, but they don't connect them to the Tatas, to this global company. And I think that's one of our challenges over the next few years is to create in people's minds that connection between these products they think so highly of and the international group that's behind them.”
The Tatas employ about 16,000 people in the US; nearly a third of them are local hires. In the New Year, the group hopes to expand its hotel operations, adding properties in Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami among major cities, supply auto parts and design services, grow the beverage business and of course TCS, the IT major.
From their headquarters in Washington DC, the Tata group promises to make news in the United States in the New Year. And as more Americans get to hear about the Tatas, the challenge before the group is to make sure they like what they hear.
The automotive sector will be a major focus area for the Tata group in the United States in 2008 - and that's regardless of the final decision in the sale of Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover units. Tata Motors is widely expected to be named as the preferred bidder in the sale, and the Tatas expect to hear from Ford early in January. But for now, David P Good, Chief Representative, North America, Tata Sons, said, “I'm not going to go beyond what our chairman Mr Tata has said, which is that we've expressed interest, we've made a bid on Jaguar and Land Rover, and I think we're going to leave it at that. We wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think we could do it and do it well.”
That last remark may be a dig at the Jaguar dealer who questioned whether American consumers would buy a luxury car from an Indian company. The Tata group, which manages three upscale hotels in the US, has also responded angrily to similar statements from luxury hospitality chain Orient Express Hotels recently. The Chief Spokesman of the Tatas in the United States admits that Americans don't know enough about the Indian multinational group yet.
Good said, “In the US what you find is that people who don't really know India don't know the Tatas very well. They know a lot of our products, that's very interesting, they know Tetley, Good Earth tea, 8 o'clock Coffee, the hotels, but they don't connect them to the Tatas, to this global company. And I think that's one of our challenges over the next few years is to create in people's minds that connection between these products they think so highly of and the international group that's behind them.”
The Tatas employ about 16,000 people in the US; nearly a third of them are local hires. In the New Year, the group hopes to expand its hotel operations, adding properties in Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami among major cities, supply auto parts and design services, grow the beverage business and of course TCS, the IT major.
From their headquarters in Washington DC, the Tata group promises to make news in the United States in the New Year. And as more Americans get to hear about the Tatas, the challenge before the group is to make sure they like what they hear.
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