Tata Sons – the salt-to-software conglomerate – has been in talks with the British government to engineer a bailout package for it automotive and steel manufacturing business in the United Kingdom
Tata Motors Ltd – the parent company of Jaguar Land Rover – will not look for any funding from the British government to sustain the Covid-19 induced economic downturn, said Natarajan Chadrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons, at the 75th annual general meeting of the company.
Tata Sons – the salt-to-software conglomerate – has been in talks with the British government to engineer a bailout package for it automotive and steel manufacturing business in the United Kingdom. According to the Financial Times, the UK government has refused any emergency fund to both the companies, under project Birch, due to the stable financial condition of parent company, Tata Sons.
“Jaguar Land Rover is not looking for any funding from the UK government," said Chandrasekaran.
“JLR has seen growth in China in the last few months. It is a very important market for JLR globally. However, we are closely watching the geopolitical challenges and it would be difficult to comment its impact for now. Our immediate priority includes focus on sales and service across JLR and PVs and CV businesses," he added.
Jaguar Land Rover has been facing challenges in its main markets, China, US and Europe over the last three years as vehicle sales declined substantially due to increased competition, slowdown in global economies and falling sales of diesel vehicles. At the same time, the company also had to investment significantly in developing electric cars to keep competing with the German competitors and new comers like Tesla.
Tata Sons has also been actively looking for partners to collaborate in the areas of developing electric and autonomous cars. The Mumbai based conglomerate had briefly considered selling its stake in the luxury vehicle manufacturer, according to news reports from Bloomberg.
Recently, the company announced that Thierry Bolore, Groupe Renault’s former chief executive will take over the reins from its current chief, Ralf Speth.
In the June quarter, JLR reported a 46.38% year-on-year increase in net losses to ₹3500 crore from ₹2391 crore from a year ago period. The company, as part of its cost reduction efforts, aims to save 6 billion pounds by the end of the current fiscal year. During the quarter the, JLR’s China based joint venture with Cherry Automobiles also broke even, indicating a possible recovery in demand in its biggest market.
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