TCS from Tata Group is sponsoring Ferrari in India

Indian technology giant, TCS (Tata Consultancy) announced on Thursday a sponsorship deal with Formula One team Ferrari, bucking predictions that the sport could collapse in the global economic crisis.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will display its logo on Ferrari cars during the 2009 season, a company statement released in Mumbai said. "TCS has entered into a historic agreement with Ferrari for an enhanced technology and marketing partnership," it said, without giving financial details of the deal.

Last week Formula One agreed cost-cutting measures following a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Monaco.

The sport's governing body is clamping down on costs as it struggles to survive the global credit crisis. Honda's recent shock withdrawal from the Formula One raised fresh fears over the future of the multi-million dollar sport. TCS has been a technology partner of the Ferrari team since 2005. Cheaper mobile phone Samsung S7330 on 3 deals.

Top 10 cars, that Americans hate

Times are so difficult for the auto industry that even Toyota and Honda have now experienced the kinds of double-digit sales dips that have been plaguing American auto giants General Motors and Ford all year. Sales for the entire industry were down 26.6 percent collectively in September as consumers grew skittish about making big-ticket purchases.

In good economic times and bad alike, however, there are some vehicles that American consumers seem to abhor outright. And they're not just the big, gas-guzzling SUVs that are currently out of favor. It turns out, the cars American consumers hate the most come in many different shapes and sizes, and they're disliked for a wide array of reasons.

"Buyers make the same choices and buy the safe brand," says Jessica Caldwell, manager of pricing and industry analysis at Edmunds.com, an automotive consumer information Web site. "They are not thinking outside the box and buying something that may stand out as an odd purchase."

But then there's well-earned hatred, particularly due to quality issues, which is the case with the Jaguar XJ, of which only 10,852 were sold (the leader in the segment, the Cadillac DTS, saw sales above 135,000). The Jaguar brand was sold last year to Indian company Tata Motors, and when Jaguar lost its British edge it also lost favor with American buyers, says Caldwell. Even though the quality problems of Jaguars, to that point, had been well-known among consumers, the idea of having a British car parked in the driveway was, for a long time, enough to attract loyal American buyers. Written by Rahul Vishela

Ford plans to sell Jaguar, Land Rover to Tata Motors

Ford Motor (F) is about to hand the keys for Jaguar and Land Rover to India-based Tata Motors. The sale is expected to be announced Wednesday, according to a source briefed on the negotiations who did not want to be named because the deal had not yet been made public. Tata is to pay about $2 billion and has agreed to continue to build the vehicles in their British plants. The complicated deal will also cover continued supply of Ford-made components and deal with labor issues. Ford has been working with Tata on details of the sale for several months.

"This represents a first, with an Indian company really stepping outside as an investor with a significant couple of brands," says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research. "And it enables Ford to convert what has been a pretty extensive part of the company into some needed cash. This is really a pretty big step." Tata Motors, a maker of light and heavy trucks and family cars, is attempting to broaden its global automotive presence.

For struggling Ford, the move sheds two more European luxury brands that had become a drag on cash. Particularly draining was Jaguar, in which Ford sank nearly $10 billion trying to revive the brand after spending $2.5 billion to buy it in a deal that closed in 1990.
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

Will the Tata Nano car reach the US or Europe?

The world’s cheapest car “The Tata Nano” ,from Tata Motors, is making news everywhere, but could this car see the light of day in North America or Europe.

How safe is the Tata Nano compared to western automotives, would it pass our tests and even if it did then these cars would surely put some of the big named car brands out of business.
Do you think the Tata Nano car could reach the US or Europe and would it be a good thing to shake up the auto industry?