Tata and Mahindra in a tussle to buy Aston Martin?

Posted: 17 Nov 2012 01:32 AM PST

Aston Martin is one of the coolest brands known to the world but it’s ironic that none of its previous owners could capitalize on the marque’s iconic status.
The British supercar manufacturer was owned by Ford from 1994 to 2007 after which the ownership switched hands. The company is now owned by a firm backed by Kuwaiti group Investment Dar and it’s again for sale.
We brought you the news that Mahindra is on the run to make Aston Martin theirs and now Birmingham Post reports that Tata Motors is also in the race to bag the Bond Brand.
The financial and automotive media have been continuously reporting that Mahindra is indeed one of the front runners along with Toyota to buy out the 64% of stake held by Invesment Dar in Aston Martin.
 

The latest report suggests that Tata has also held talks with the higher ups of the Gaydon based firm for a potential buyout.
Another report speculates that Toyota has already commenced due diligence on the books at Aston Martin with a rumoured value of around £ 500 million pounds for the 64% stake. Investment Dar bought Aston Martin from Ford for £ 479 million in 2007.
It’s said that Tata Motors are not in the lead but high level talks are being held. Industry experts believe that Tatas have a better chance of reviving the economically wounded supercar marque since it can arrange for synergies with Jaguar brand when it comes to technologies.
On contrary to the reports, an official spokeswoman at Aston Martin maintained that the firm is not for sale and dismissed the reports as rumours.
We are closely monitoring the proceedings and will know the actual happenings in few weeks.
Don’t you think an Indian owner for Aston Martin will be cool?

Revised Tata Aria likely to step in by December

 

The Tata Aria is a typical example of how a brilliant product could be let down by a back fired marketing strategy.
In its two years of existence, the premium MPV could never invoke interest among the potential buyers of its segment. People oversaw the fact that the Aria is a well engineered product and were not convinced to shell out a premium for a car which carried the Tata badge.
Aria’s fortunes took a further plunge when the eye candy Mahindra XUV 500 arrived at the scene. The 7 seater crossover MPV is posting only double digit sales and the company’s continuous effort to get the Aria up and running had went in vain.
Tata Motors had so far offered two low cost variants of the Aria with reduced equipment, the recent one being the Aria Pure LX. Still the Aria continues to be a cause of worry but Tata is undeterred and has plans to relaunch the car with some image corrections.
On the sidelines of the Tata Indigo Manza Club Class’ launch at Kolkata, Mr. Kumar Priyesh, Tata Motors’ regional manager for East, told the reporters that, “It (upgraded Aria) was scheduled to be launched next year, but it will be launched nationally very soon, may be in a month or two. Might be December this year.”
Tata Motors hopes that relaunched Aria would put the bad memories behind and would bring in some decent numbers.