[Jason]

Via Bloomberg:

Jaguar Land Rover Parent Approaches BMW, Geely in Hunt for Partners

November 12, 2019, 1:08 AM PST

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.

Scale has become increasingly crucial in the automotive industry as carmakers pool resources to tackle electrification and autonomous driving. The challenge is especially daunting for smaller players such as JLR, which has committed to an ambitious program to offer electric variants for each of its new models from 2020. The British carmaker was an early mover among incumbent manufacturers with the electric I-Pace crossover, introduced last year.

“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.”

A global downturn that’s hit major markets has added to the pressure, and despite the many challenges of turning fierce rivals into collaborators, the pace of dealmaking has picked up.

Volkswagen AG, the world’s largest carmaker, this year agreed to team with Ford Motor Co. in areas including electrification and self-driving cars. PSA Group — the French owner of Peugeot, Opel and Citroen — last month agreed to combine with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to create the world’s fourth-largest automaker by volume.

JLR Turnaround

One potential obstacle for any partner with JLR is the British automaker’s financial struggles. Tata has begun to address some of these issues, providing the brand with a $910 million equity infusion to help bolster its balance sheet.

In China, JLR has struggled with quality and dealership issues. The company reported last month that sales had stabilized, helping parent Tata Motors Ltd. post a narrower-than-projected quarterly loss. The British unit is also near completion of a 2.5 billion-pound ($3.2 billion) savings drive that included thousands of job cuts worldwide.

Tata Group bought the maker of the Jaguar XE sedan and the Land Rover Discovery sport-utility vehicle in 2008 for $2.3 billion. While the conglomerate is open to finding partners for JLR, it doesn’t plan on selling the unit, N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of group holding company, Tata Sons Ltd., said in an interview last month.

[am3r1ka]

More reliable Range Rovers, I'm here for

[uniqueMR]

Originally Posted by am3r1ka

More reliable Range Rovers, I'm here for

100% agreed.
Land Rover brand is very unreliable.

[deemo319]

BMW AG has already been down this road. And should stay away.

[RENT-A-GOAT]

Think BMW should stay well away of this one, it would be them bringing to the table and Tata taking. There's nothing in JLR to benefit the BMW group. There are better companies out there to get involved with in regards to EV development than JLR.

[pennsiveguy]

Originally Posted by RENT-A-GOAT

Think BMW should stay well away of this one, it would be them bringing to the table and Tata taking. There's nothing in JLR to benefit the BMW group. There are better companies out there to get involved with in regards to EV development than JLR.

Agree 100%. JLR have shown zero regard for product quality, which indicates that their culture is one which places no value on quality. Fixing company culture is a bitch. It takes a long time, a lot of turmoil, and a lot of resources and can result in other, formerly healthy parts of the org getting neglected or starved. Best for BMW to focus on its own current business.

[Mani59]

Originally Posted by deemo319

BMW AG has already been down this road. And should stay away.

Exactly, this is like history repeating itself with Rover.

[Coni]

Is this reddit? Did any of you actually read past the headline...?

This is about sharing the cost of research into electric vehicles. Not about making a reliable Range Rover or BMW buying JLR. Sharing the cost of research into electric vehicles benefits both partners, especially since BMW is self-admittedly behind the game.

[RENT-A-GOAT]

Originally Posted by Coni

Is this reddit? Did any of you actually read past the headline...?

This is about sharing the cost of research into electric vehicles. Not about making a reliable Range Rover or BMW buying JLR. Sharing the cost of research into electric vehicles benefits both partners, especially since BMW is self-admittedly behind the game.

Yes I did hence my reply was worded like this

"Think BMW should stay well away of this one, it would be them bringing to the table and Tata taking. There's nothing in JLR to benefit the BMW group. There are better companies out there to get involved with in regards to EV development than JLR."

[///M TOWN]

Geely is already ready to dominate the market.

Not sure why they'd care to join forces with JLR.

[TodmordenLad]

Wouldn't get into any JV with JLR. That would be a poisoned chalice indeed. "Beleaguered" is a fitting description for the company.

[MilehighM3]

Been there, done that. Please no...

[brava09]

My Jag F Type is the most reliable car I owned so far, not a single issue at all. None.
Can't say the same about the BMW's I owned, or the Audi's.

[LemonOne]

I would stay away from this deal!

[ghaffari46]

Again??

[TheBingoBalls]

I like the idea of manufacturers joining each other especially for something to help the industry move towards EV's. I have no doubts that every major manufacturer has the know-how to produce an EV if they were to start from scratch but the difficulty is balancing the budget from what still makes you money (ICE's) and what the future is likely going to be.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by TheBingoBalls

I like the idea of manufacturers joining each other especially for something to help the industry move towards EV's. I have no doubts that every major manufacturer has the know-how to produce an EV if they were to start from scratch but the difficulty is balancing the budget from what still makes you money (ICE's) and what the future is likely going to be.

EV-tech is already being traded though... Why else do you think the Supra is based on the Z4? Look at the patents in the EV space Toyota has and tell me why BMW wouldn't make that trade.

[Canuck335]

For those of you that don't know Land Rover was known as the "English Patient" within BMW Group at the time.

[carzaddict]

im surprised, not a single comment about how the next F-type could be a rebaged supra/z4