Land Rover-Jaguar bid race: Will Tata Motors win?

TOP RACE: Tata Motors has the edge in the Land Rover-Jaguar race.

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Mumbai: According to CNBC analysis, Tata Motors has the edge in the Land Rover-Jaguar race primarily because it’s the only automaker to submit a bid and so many analysts are saying that could give it the edge.

The other reason is it could offer a higher price as well because Tata’s have the economies of scale right now with its current production facilities to offset the cost and more importantly the third reason could be that the jobs of 13,000 Jaguar and Land Rover workers could be in line and Tata in its mood for expansion may offer better terms in terms of job security.

Ford has told labour leaders to prepare for a meeting with potential buyers, which indicates that sale could in the final stages.

Ford paid over $5 billion for both and is hoping for a good price but analysts are doubtful whether or not Ford can fetch that sort of price and they sight factors like exchange rate, high operating costs in UK, and also potentially expensive new environmental regulations and all of which impact the final sale price.

Merrill Lynch had estimated before that the sale of both could fetch anywhere between $1.3 to 1.5 billion and that is well below what Ford has paid; not forgetting that its invested about $10 billion in Jaguar and Land Rover.

In the meantime Tata Motors have been on a buying spree and for the past three years it has bought in South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, Argentina and has most recently said that it intends to keep growing organically and outside of India as well.