Indian Owned - Jaguar... Land Rover

That's right, the deal was formally announced yesterday, 26 March 2008, that Tata Motors of India has acquired British marques Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford. Ford put up the two brands for sale so as to focus on its core business of making general purpose vehicles for its primarily US market. Ford continues to own Swedish marque Volvo and a significant stake in Japanese manufacturer Mazda.

Will Tata be able to do what Ford failed to and promote the brands to be profitable and competitive with their very successful German rivals? Time will tell... Its clear that it will be an uphill battle, Jaguar is unprofitable and Land Rover just managed to reach profitability in the past year, but if anyone can change things its got to be Tata.

Tata have pledged to retain production plants in the UK along with company staff and also have agreed to continue with the 5 year plans drafted by JLR (Jaguar, Land Rover) which run till 2011. My guess is that turnaround won't happen overnight, but in time the acquisitions may pay off. This is the motor industry and success of a company is mainly down to sales, and sales are driven by the product offering. If you can offer a product which is superior to the competition at the same price then the trajectory of the sales figures will gather vertical momentum.

A vehicle offering is judged by a number of categories, some of the key ones are:

> Performance
> Technology
> Design
> Reliability
> Value Retention
> Environmental Friendliness (increasingly important)
> Brand Name

On pondering over these areas its evident why Jaguar is not profitable.

> Performance have not been on par with German offerings.
> Technologically incomparable to German rivals (resulting in lower engine outputs, higher fuel consumption and interior gadgetry that's outdated).
> Design has not been bad but the classic trends have not been to everyone's tastes.
> Reliability hasn't been in the same league as the Germans/Japs.
> Value Retention the above factors result in the 2nd hand value dropping more than other marques.
> Jaguar do not make hybrid or smaller engined cars, and this is bad when it comes to the 'Enviro' rating.
> The Jaguar marque does have a history of producing luxury cars so this is one area they aren't suffering.

So Tata and Jaguar have quite a bit to do, some encouraging signs are that the latest offerings from Jaguar have modern appealing designs and appear to have improved in interior technology spec. The alliance with Tata may also help Jaguar when the new emissions laws get imposed in the west as Tata makes many small engined vehicles (the Tata Nano is the latest example) and if these are exported to the west then the overall 'Enviro' score may meet the requirements (other marques already use this technique to avoid penalties on their Luxury brands).

From this it can be seen that all is not gloomy and hence the reason for my quiet optimism. Either way it should be interesting to see if Tata's bold move pans out to be the stupid decision that'll have all the critics saying 'I told u so, anyone could have predicted it' or one that leaves them speechless.

IPL... Going once, Going twice, Sold to the highest bidder...

If you haven't heard of the IPL cricket league as yet then where the hell have you been :) The first round of bidding and preliminary team analysis have been done extensively by various sources including our very own rambler Iby.

The second phase of bidding is now happening and the team squads are beginning to take shape. How they've come up with some of the names I haven't the slightest, but here they are:

Jet airways to SA in April '08? Not Anymore!

Jet Airways has scrapped its plans to launch a Mumbai-Johannesburg flight from April in favour of more lucrative destinations.

Provisional schedules had indicated Jet Airways would launch direct flights between Johannesburg (O.R. Tambo Intl Airport) to Mumbai from April this year on a 3x weekly service however the airline has now postponed its planned operations to South Africa indefinitely in favour of more profitable routes to destinations such as the US and China.

Global MBA rankings

The 2008 Financial times rankings of global MBA institutions is out.

The top 5 institutions don't raise any eyebrows, ranked as follows:

1> University of Pennsylvania: Wharton - USA
2> London Business School - UK
3> Columbia Business School - USA
4> Stanford University GSB - USA
5> Harvard Business School - USA

----------------------------
Other noteworthy institutions were:

20> Indian School of Business - India
71> University of Cape Town GSB - South Africa

The only representative from Africa is the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business - South Africa which is ranked 71st (lower than the rank they obtained last year around the 57 mark), a credible achievement nonetheless. UCT GSB is also rated 2nd best in terms of value for money of the course, now thats definitely a major draw card.

The sole Indian institution in the top 100 is the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad) coming in at a very praiseworthy rank of number 20, but for me the most astonishing thing about the results is that the weighted salary (average alumni salary today) which is topped by the Indian School of Business!!! I was expecting the exact opposite. However it appears that ISB is quite expensive and is comparable to the US institutions (which are undoubtedly the most expensive) in terms of value for money rank.

UCT GSB also beats many top rated business schools in the weighted salary category, their graduates are paid 11th best according to the findings! Indeed, go have a look for yourself, go to the FT page and sort by the weighted salary column (click on the column heading to sort by that respective category).

Well well well... Some things aren't the way they seem after all... I attribute this to the higher demand for graduates from these institutions as they are so much better than their peers from the local region (India and South Africa only have one institution ranked in the top 100 as opposed to countries like USA with many more).

Its all about the Money !

The number of announcements of retirees from international cricket has be baffling of late. Big names Shaun Pollock, Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Tait, Boeta Dippenaar... and i'm thinking theres more to come in the next couple of months...


True some of the guys have past their peak and are now going down hill, but personally I think the fact that there is sound (very sound) source of income in store from the IPL (Indian Premier League) tournament that has been announced recently has made the decision to call it quits much easier to bare. Not only do will they get a much more relaxed schedule (IPL is a Pro20 match format) but the pressure of playing at international level will be another weight lifted off their shoulders.

So, for the more mature players and those who have never been assured a place in their national side the IPL may prove to be a new gold mine, indeed players will probably earn more playing in the IPL than from their international contracts... Hence the drop out... Shane Bond and others banded following their participation in the ICL rebel league also don't seem too perturbed.

Other stars who openly say their least favourite stadiums to play at are in India (eg Jacque Kallis) are all part of the IPL setup! The reason is simple... Its all about the money!

Jet airways global expansion goals for 2008

This piece is credited to a recent article from TravelBizMonitor.

Recent International routes opened
- Belgium
- USA (NY)
- Canada
- The following destinations in the Gulf region
+ Bahrain
+ Kuwait
+ Doha
+ Muscat

Planned new routes for 2008
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Zurich
- Milan
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Vancouver
- Tel Aviv
- Johannesburg
- Shanghai
- Saudi Arabia
- Hong Kong
- Iran

The first phase which will completed by mid-2008 will be to connect to more European and American cities. And presumably the 2nd half of the year flights to new Asian and African (i.e. Johannesburg, South Africa) will be launched. Flights will be launched inline with the delivery of new aircraft on order.

Airline Update (India)

As the year draws to a close, its now apparent that it will be remembered as an year of consolidation and international expansion dreams kicking off for some.

Kingfisher and Deccan have merged and will retain the Kingfisher name (their current 46% stake will be increased to 51%). This is the third deal of this nature after the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines (now just Air India) and Jet airways acquiring Sahara (now known as Jetlite).

Jet airways has kicked of its international operations successfully and has been adding new routes and destinations as its fleet receives new members. An exclusive lounge for their more privileged passengers has be unveiled at their European hub, Brussels. Code sharing with other international airlines are taking shape and it all looks a rosy picture going into the new year for them.

Air India following their merger is being inducted into the Star Alliance, which is the world's biggest airline alliance, now with 19 existing partner airlines. Full alliance benefits will probably arrive in 2009. Air India is poised to make a fresh order for extra widebody aircraft (possibly including the new Airbus A380) as it begins inception of the new Boeing aircraft from its last order (deliveries from this order are set to continue for the next 2 to 3 years). The airline is also planning to establish a European hub either at Munich, Germany or Vienna, Austria.

With Kingfisher also set to start flying outside India's borders by the end of 2008 it appears that the Indian players are beginning to compete on a global stage with services that are truly world class. Its clear they don't simply intend to match services of their international counterparts but to exceed them! An exciting year to look forward to from this perspective, compliments of the season and a Happy New Year to all, wishing you good health and success in the year ahead.

Tata motors set to acquire Jaguar and Land Rover marques from Ford

Tata has emerged as the clear front runner to acquire the classic english marques from ailing Ford which is looking to curb losses by releasing the loss making brands. Ford however decided to retain Volvo for the present.

Two other companies have also showed keen interest, one of them Mahindra & Mahindra also of Indian origin, although Tata is the clear favourite after receiving approval from the unions in the UK.

So, what does Tata stand to gain from the deal?
In the long run, acquiring the two marques will improve Tata’s own offerings due to knowledge gained and share of expertise. In the meantime if they feel they can restore profitability of Jaguar it will be a bonus.
Jaguar and Land Rover also stand to gain cause they will be in the hands of a really large firm which has a lot of financial resources and so they have their best shot of success (i.e. retaining the objectives of their branding and remaining in existence!)

Its a risk for Tata, but we’ll never know what could have been if they don’t try, so Tata deserves credit for their bold moves; and 10 years from now it’ll be interesting to see what came of this deal, if the marques are still under Tata, and the progress that Tata has made in the other vehicle classes with it’s own offerings.

Airline update...

Yes yes... after a long break we're back... and in due time to announce (though by now its just old news... but I think its stature is such that it deserves a mention) that the first Airbus A380 has been delivered to Singapore Airlines who promptly put it to use on their Sydney route. And they've ordered it with a really spruced up interior...



In the meantime Jet Airways of India has been launching new routes on as it looks to expand its international operations to the West. The carrier currently operates flights to New York(both JFK and Newark) and Toronto, Canada from 3 Indian cities (New Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai). All flights have a stop at Brussels, Belgium which is the airliners hub in Europe. Within the past week an exclusive lounge was unveiled at the Brussels airport for Jet Airways' First and Premiere Class passengers.

Other routes in the pipeline are Shanghai(China), San Francisco (US) and Johannesburg (South Africa) pending delivery of new widebody aircraft orders from both Boeing and Airbus.

The airline is also waiting for approval from the Indian government to fly to several locations in the Gulf region which is a popular destination for Indian nationals.

Victory to Team India...

At Trent Bridge, Nottingham! Not often you hear that... And convincingly too, by a margin of 7 wickets... match scorecard

Cricinfo adds...
'The victory means India have now won at least one Test in ten of their last 12 tours, but have only won two of those series against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. With the last Test at The Oval - a venue which has traditionally produced belters - India have an excellent opportunity to go on and get that rare overseas series victory.'



The next step will be to maintain it... consistency doesn't come easily...



A decent effort to shrug off their poor touring record which has been the main stumbling block in the overall rankings for the subcontinent.


The match photos... Zaheer Khan, Man of the match took a fiver in the 2nd innings.
A rare sight in the past, Sourav and Sachin actually running between the wickets in a Test!
Livewire DK (Dinesh Karthik) celebrates a catch...



Images courtesy: Cricinfo.com