All you need to know about...Tata
Born: 1945 Nationality: Indian
Though only a post-second World War vehicle manufacturer, the business of which Tata is a part is India's largest multinational conglomerate, and has been in existence for over 124 years. The brand recently came "on the radar" here through an agreement with MG Rover, by which its
Safari SUV and a number of commercial vehicles are now on sale in that company's dealerships.
The Tata Group actually has more than 85 companies in engineering, materials, energy, chemicals, consumer products, communications & IT and services. The Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO) was set up in 1945 to manufacture steam locomotives and commercial vehicles.
In 1954 it entered a collaboration with Daimler Benz AG for the manufacture of medium commercial vehicles. That agreement ended in 1969.
By 1977 the automotive manufacturing business had expanded to Malaysia, assembling trucks and making automotive components. In 1985, TELCO and Honda signed a technical collaboration for the manufacture of passenger cars in India. A year later the company launched its new light commercial vehicle, the TATA 406. A pick-up followed two years later, the Tatamobile. Through the 1980s, other pick-up-based models included the Tata Estate and the Sierra.
In 1994, Tata began a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz to manufacture M-B passenger cars in India. The same year it formed an alliance with the US-based Cummins Engines Co to build engines with modern emissions-control technology. And in 1995, the first Indian-built Mercedes-Benz E220 was launched.
However, as yet no indigenous Indian car had ever been produced, and from the germ of an idea in 1993, the Tata Indica car project was born. It eventually resulted in the production of the first car in December 1998, with a relatively small investment, by global automotive standards, of some $400 million.
The company also displayed a concept "people's car" the Zing, in 1998.
The Tata 207 DI truck was launched in 2002, and the same year the company entered into an agreement that Tata would build a new small car for MG Rover based on the Indica.
At the end of the year Tata launched its second own-designed car, the Indigo saloon, which last year became he best-selling car in its class in India. It is a smart-looking car, powered by 1.4-litre petrol and diesel engines, which could yet make an impact in local European markets.
The TELCO company was renamed as Tata Motors Ltd in 2003, the same year that it rolled out its three-millionth motor vehicle. It was also last year that the current generation of its Safari SUV was introduced. Tata currently exports about a tenth of its output to markets in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe.
It is among the Top 10 manufacturers of commercial vehicles in the world, and the Tata brand is on the bonnets of 70 per cent of commercial vehicles in India.
Best Car: The Indigo saloon.
Worst Car: The Motoring Editor has described the Safari off-roader as the worst vehicle he's driven and most cars seem to model themselves on the 1980s. There are also complaints about the noisy transmissions in the Indica .