Ratan Tata besides a Jaguar car.
Credit: X/@birla_vedant
As the nation mourns the death of national gem Ratan Tata, we take you to a particular chapter in the late industrialist's life, one about 'revenge', as narrated by the Chairman and MD of Birla Precision Technologies, Vedant Birla.
In a series of posts on X, Birla recounted how Ford humiliated Tata once upon a time, and how he ended saving them later.
In 1998, Tata had launched India’s first fully designed and built indigenous car, Tata Indica. Despite it being an inspiring and audacious move at the time, early sales were very poor. So much so that Tata was ready to shut down the manufacturing unit and was even advised to sell Tata Motors to Ford.
And so, the automobile giants came to Bombay House to cut a deal. During the meeting at the Tata headquarters, the American company evinced interest in buying out the business after the not-so-warm response to the hatchback car for over a year since launch.
Soon, top Tata officials, led by Ratan Tata, went to the US for a follow-up meeting, which lasted about three hours.
According to a person who attended the meeting, officials from Ford "humiliated" the visiting Indians at the meeting in Detroit.
"You do not know anything, why did you start the passenger car division at all," the Ford officials told their guests, and spoke about doing a favour to the Indian company by buying out the latter's business.
The team decided to return to India immediately after the meeting, which was described as "humiliating" by a person who was present. On the 90-minute flight taking them back to New York, a sombre Ratan Tata spoke very few words.
However, the ordeal gave Tata more determination than ever to help Indica succeed. And so it did, becoming the first car for many Indian families, and even a staple vehicle in the taxi industry for a long time.
Nine years since the embarrassing meeting with Ford, the 2008 recession hit the US, as well as the coffers of the American automobile giant.
Sensing an opportunity, Tata made an offer to Ford, and ended up with the Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) brands for a deal of $2.3 billion, thereby helping the auto major avoid bankruptcy.
This time, "Ford said that Tata did a favour for Ford by buying JLR!" Birla recounted.
Post-acquisition, the Tata Group has scripted one of the most fabulous turnarounds in the auto industry and has been able to position the marquee British brands as formidable entities in the fiercely competitive global car market.
Today, Jaguar and Land Rover are brands that set standards for premium luxury cars in India and around the world. Even as Tata Motors has come a long way and gained a large chunk of market share in India, it continues to earn a significant part of its revenues from the JLR.
While it might or might not have been his intention to get 'revenge' on the American conglomerate, that he did so in a graceful manner is a point of pride for many Indians, especially those who aspire to build something that can compete with the innovations of the rest of the world.
(With PTI Inputs)