Tata studies car factory in Brazil
O Estado de S. Paulo 09/16/10
The giant Tata Motors from India, studies the implementation of a car factory in Brazil. Ravi Kant, the no. 2 of the company, confirmed yesterday that Tata will launch a second wave of globalization of its production. According to Kant, it was not decided yet whether the new factory will be installed in Brazil or Mexico. "We send our experts to the region and they are covering both Brazil and Mexico to reach a conclusion about where it would be more appropriate to establish the factory", said Kant. According to him, beside the first factory in Latin America, another two will be installed in other regions of the world.The executive declined to say how much the investment would be, or what vehicles would be produced in an eventual Brazilian factory. "But what I can say is that this new factory will be used as a platform for exports of our cars to Latin America", he said. "We want a place of production, but also strengthen the distribution of vehicles in the region and its sale", he added. Tata has already opened factories in Thailand and South Africa And also controls, in the UK, Land Rover and Jaguar production factories, companies bought by the Indian. Now, launches itself in a new wave of internationalization. To do this, it does not hesitate in hiring the German Carl-Peter Forster as CEO. Forster led both BMW and European GM in the past.
The idea of Tata, according to Kant, is to increase the company's presence in the world, especially in emerging countries. "The growth of the world economy in the coming years will come from the emerging economies", he said. He defends that the expansion of Tata will be beneficial for these countries. "Developing economies need industries to overcome many of their problems", he says. "In India, the production of each car employs between five and ten people".
Asia has been the main market of the company that changed the scenario in the region when launching the Nano, considered the world's cheapest car. In Europe, Tata plans to introduce an electric version of the vehicle until 2013. But now, the goal is to occupy regions that grow, even without the presence of India. Yesterday, Tata announced their numbers and indicated an increase of 29% in sales in August, pushed up by the luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover. The largest vehicle manufacturer in India had a high of 42% in overall sales between April and August.