Scouting partner for Jaguar-Land Rover, Tata Motors approaches BMW, Geely

India’s largest conglomerate has said it’s open to finding partners for JLR to save on costs and share the burden of investing in electric vehicles

Tata Group, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover, has approached carmakers including China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and BMW AG as it seeks partnerships for the beleaguered British automotive business, people with knowledge of the matter said.

India’s largest conglomerate has said it’s open to finding partners for JLR to save on costs and share the burden of investing in electric vehicles. The deliberations were at an early stage and Tata could still approach other potential partners, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It wasn’t immediately clear how receptive Geely and BMW were. “There have been no talks with Tata or JLR,” Geely said in a statement. BMW declined to comment, as did Tata, whose chairman has previously ruled out an outright sale of the unit.

Any tie-up with a Chinese automaker could potentially help JLR in that market, where its struggles led to a $3.9 billion writedown earlier this year. Deeper ties between the British luxury brand and BMW would build on an existing collaboration to develop engines and electric-drive technology, though the German carmaker’s former chief executive officer in August ruled out any equity investment.

“Carmakers need to invest a lot of money in developing new technology, and Tata doesn’t have deep pockets to keep funding development,” said Deepesh Rathore, an independent auto analyst in Bangalore, India. “You don’t want to be left behind, especially in the luxury segment, and at the same time, Tata doesn’t want to let go of JLR, which is its crown jewel.”

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Tata won’t sell Jaguar Land Rover, open to adding partners: Chandrasekaran

Tata Motors bought the maker of the Jaguar XE sedan and Land Rover Discovery sport utility vehicle from Ford Motor Co. in 2008

Tata Sons, the Indian conglomerate that owns Jaguar Land Rover, said it is open to finding partners for the automaker but isn’t planning on selling the embattled unit. “We’re not going to sell,” said Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company in an expansive business empire that includes Tata Motors Ltd. “Auto is a core business for us. From revenue terms, auto is our largest company.”

Tata Motors bought the maker of the Jaguar XE sedan and Land Rover Discovery sport utility vehicle from Ford Motor in 2008. After turning it into a cash cow with booming sales in countries like Russia and China, JLR waned to such an extent that it’s had to launch a 2.5 billion-pound ($3.2 billion) savings program and slash thousands of jobs worldwide.

Losses at Tata’s automotive business have mounted with a slump in India’s car market, as well as trouble overseas, including an economic slowdown in China, where auto sales are sliding, and uncertainty over Brexit. JLR is closing its UK factories for a week in November to guard against disruption to supply chains from a possible no-deal Brexit.

Chandrasekaran said China sales have “collapsed” with a 50 per cent drop last year, though 2019 is showing some improvement. Some problems were self-inflicted, including vehicle quality and dealer issues, he said, noting that the auto industry is “going through difficult times.” “Getting the right portfolio, which one we invest in for electric vehicles, and how do we cut cost” are issues that need to be resolved, he said…

An IPL without pacers? Kohli wants fast bowlers rested; teams may not agree

During a recent meeting of the CoA in Hyderabad, Kohli suggested resting pacers, especially Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, from the entire IPL to keep them fresh for the World Cup

Indian skipper Virat Kohli wants World Cup-bound fast bowlers to be rested from next year’s IPL but the idea mooted at a meeting with the Committee of Administrators (CoA) is unlikely to find favour with the franchises.

During a recent meeting of the CoA in Hyderabad, Kohli suggested resting pacers, especially Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, from the entire IPL to keep them fresh for the World Cup.

However, the India captain didn’t find too many backers for his proposal as Board officials said franchises are unlikely to agree.|Sports

“The IPL is starting on March 29 and will finish on May 19. In any case, there will be a 15-day gap before India play their first World Cup game against South Africa on June 5. So there is no chance that pacers can be rested for the entire duration of the IPL,” a senior official, who was present in the meeting, told PTI on Thursday.

In fact, limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who was present in the meeting, also had a different take.

“When Kohli mooted the idea, CoA chief Vinod Rai asked Rohit about his take. Rohit apparently said, ‘If Mumbai Indians reach Play Offs or finals and if Bumrah happens to be fit, then I cannot afford to rest him’,” the official said.

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Self-driving car industry needs standards, wide-reaching 5G network: JLR

JLR’s Ralf Speth outlined ambitious plans to stay ahead of the rapidly changing technological changes

Automobile : Automakers need standards for key equipment, a wide-reaching 5G broadband network and strong partnerships to make self-driving cars and electric vehicles a success, top European car industry executives said on Wednesday.

Ralf Speth, chief executive of Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover , outlined ambitious plans to stay ahead of the rapidly changing technological changes, but said the sector also needed unified and clear guidelines for safeguarding driver information and privacy. Government and industry should work closely together to ensure success as the market evolves, Speth told a conference hosted by Automobilwoche magazine in Berlin.

European carmakers are racing to keep up with the rapid pace of development in the self-driving and electric vehicle markets in the United States and China.|Jaguar

The changes sweeping the industry promise to bring “enormous progress to humanity,” with autonomous cars offering mobility to many people now locked out of driving, such as the elderly and those with disabilities, Speth said.

But carmakers and suppliers would increasingly have to forge partnerships to meet the technological challenges involved, he said.

“No company alone can master challenges such as autonomous driving and connectivity on its own,” Speth told Reuters after the conference, adding that companies will also need to keep investing in improving conventional engines, which will continue to power a majority of vehicles for years.

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What is Jaguar Land Rover doing to get out of the falling sales rut?

Sales in China, where the high-end market is still growing, tanked. JLR has long been a profit center for the whole company

Tata Motors Ltd’s Jaguar Land Rover unit can’t seem to get back in the right lane.The Indian automaker’s luxury arm dropped into the red in the quarter ended September 30, posting a pretax loss of 90 million pounds ($116 million), with Ebit margins below breakeven and volumes down. Sales in China, where the high-end market is still growing, tanked. JLR has long been a profit center for the whole company. This time it took the domestic Indian business down with it, reversing recent signs of recovery there.

Not only was JLR’s performance dismal, there were few indications of a brighter future. The maker of Range Rovers and the E-Pace electric SUV ran more than 600 million pounds of negative free cash flow in the quarter, making a 2.3 billion-pound cash burn for the first half of the year – almost double the amount in the same 2017 period. Kenneth Gregor, chief financial officer of the U.K.-based unit, said he expected negative free cash flow for the full year.

To show it’s trying to fix things, JLR announced Project Charge, a two- to three-year plan to boost profitability and cash flow. The aim is to bring in as much as 2.5 billion pounds over the next 18 months. Investment plans were cut from 4.5 billion pounds a year to 4 billion pounds for this year and the next, saving about 1 billion pounds overall – half of the six-month cash burn. In the latest quarter alone, though, total investment outlays were 1 billion pounds. Further reductions will be tough because much of this spending isn’t variable.

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