Though Tata is open to finding partners for JLR, it doesn’t plan to sell the unit.
In an attempt to save costs and share the burden of investing in electric cars, Tata Motors is open to finding partners for Jaguar Land Rover. India’s largest conglomerate has approached China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and BMW seeking partnerships. However, it is still under talks and unknown how receptive Geely and BMW have been.
While Geely has refused any talks with Tata or JLR, both Tata and BMW have declined to comment. Any tie-up with a Chinese automaker could potentially help JLR in that market where its struggles led to a $3.9 billion write-down earlier this year. It has become challenging for small players like JLR to tackle electrification and autonomous driving. While the company has introduced the I-Pace electric, its ambition to offer electric variants for each of its new models from 2020 is a daunting task.
Talking about collaborations, Volkswagen partnered with Ford this year in areas including electrification and self-driving cars. PSA Group, Opel and Citroen agreed to combine with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to create the world’s fourth-largest automaker by volume.
Though Tata is open to finding partners for JLR, it doesn’t plan to sell the unit. The group bought the maker of the Jaguar XE sedan and the Land Rover Discovery sport-utility vehicle in 2008 for $2.3 billion.
Tata-JLR
– Tata Motors is open to finding partners for Jaguar Land Rover
– Has approached China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. and BMW seeking partnerships
– It is unknown how receptive Geely and BMW have been
Source – Bloomberg
