Tata Says JLR Not For Sale; On The Look Out For Partners

Jaguar Land Rover has been going through some tough times. The sales have taken a hit across global markets. In fact Jaguar Land Rover retail sales slumped 0.7 per cent to 128,953 units in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Jaguar's retail sales for the quarter were 37,323 units, down 1 per cent compared to the same period in the last fiscal. On the other hand, Land Rover retail sales were at 91,630 vehicles, 4.2 per cent up compared to the same period of last year.

The Tata Sons Limited owned company is having its share of trouble with Brexit looming in the air too, and there have been talks about the parent company wanting to sell Jaguar Land Rover. However, Tata has made it very clear that Jaguar Land Rover is not up for sale. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons told Bloomberg, "We're not going to sell. Auto is a core business for us. From revenue terms, auto is our largest company."

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons said that it is always looking for partnerships for Jaguar Land Rover

Tata Motors itself has had a tough year and car sales are down by a huge margin and recovery will take some time. Jaguar Land Rover too has had to announce a $3.2 billion savings programme and cut several jobs in globally. In fact the company is closing its UK factories for a week to correct the demand and supply curve. However, what Tata is looking at now, is partnerships.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Chandrasekaran said, " We are always look for partnerships." He said that the company doesn't want deals where a stake is sold and the company has no say. He said, "We are not financial investors, Tata group, we run companies."

Analysts, however, already have given their say in this matter. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein, a global brokerage firm believe that BMW should acquire Jaguar Land Rover from Tata Motors. The firm says that Jaguar Land Rover could have a valuation of around 9 billion pounds and it will be a good buy for BMW. Bernstein believes investing in Jaguar Land Rover could be beneficial for the German car manufacturer as it could potentially contribute to almost a quarter of BMW's volumes to its total sales figures along with leading to a 20 per cent increase in earnings for the German company. BMW earlier used to own Land Rover and the Rover group from 1994 to 2000. Tata Motors had acquired Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Company in June 2008, for a price of $2.3 billion at the time.