The history of Tata

Tata Motors Limited (formerly TELCO, short for Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and a subsidiary of the Tata Group. Its products include passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses, construction equipment and military vehicles. It is the world's 5th-largest motor vehicle manufacturing company, fourth-largest truck manufacturer, and second-largest bus manufacturer by volume.

Tata Motors has auto manufacturing and assembly pl

ants in Jamshedpur, Pantnagar, Lucknow, Sanand, Dharwad, and Pune in India, as well as in Argentina, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. It has research and development centres in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, and Dharwad, India and in South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Tata Motors' principal subsidiaries purchased the British premium car maker Jaguar Land Rover (the maker of Jaguar, Land Rover, and Range Rover cars) and the South Korean commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Daewoo. Tata Motors has a bus-manufacturing joint venture with Marcopolo S.A. (Tata Marcopolo), a construction-equipment manufacturing joint venture with Hitachi (Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery), and a joint venture with Fiat Chrysler which manufactures automotive components and Fiat Chrysler and Tata branded vehicles.

Tata Motors was established in 1945 as Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. Ltd. to manufacture locomotives and other engineering products. It is India's largest automobile company, with standalone revenues of Rs. 25,660.79 crores (USD 5.5 billion) in 2008–09. It is the leader in commercial vehicles in each segment, and among the top three in passenger vehicles with winning products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The company is the world's fourth largest truck manufacturer, and the world's second largest bus manufacturer.

The company's 23,000 employees are guided by the vision to be 'best in the manner in which they operate best in the products they deliver and best in their value system and ethics.'

Tata Motors' presence indeed cuts across the length and breadth of India. Over 4 million Tata vehicles ply on Indian roads, since the first rolled out in 1954. The company's manufacturing base in India is spread across Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Pune (Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Dharwad (Karnataka). Following a strategic alliance with Fiat in 2005, it has set up an industrial joint venture with Fiat Group Automobiles at Ranjangaon (Maharashtra) to produce both Fiat and Tata cars and Fiat powertrains. The company is establishing a new plant at Sanand (Gujarat). The company's dealership, sales, services and spare parts network comprises over 3500 touch points; Tata Motors also distributes and markets Fiat branded cars in India.

Tata Motors, the first company from India's engineering sector to be listed in the New York Stock Exchange (September 2004), has also emerged as an international automobile company. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand and Spain. Among them is Jaguar Land Rover, a business comprising the two iconic British brands that was acquired in 2008. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, South Korea's second largest truck maker. The rechristened Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company has launched several new products in the Korean market, while also exporting these products to several international markets. Today two–thirds of heavy commercial vehicle exports out of South Korea are from Tata Daewoo. In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera, a reputed Spanish bus and coach manufacturer, with an option to acquire the remaining stake as well. Hispano's presence is being expanded in other markets. In 2006, it formed a joint venture with the Brazil–based Marcopolo, a global leader in body–building for buses and coaches to manufacture fully–built buses and coaches for India and select international markets. In 2006, Tata Motors entered into joint venture with Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Company of Thailand to manufacture and market the company's pickup vehicles in Thailand. The new plant of Tata Motors (Thailand) has begun production of the Xenon pickup truck, with the Xenon having been launched in Thailand at the Bangkok Motor Show 2008.

Tata Motors is also expanding its international footprint, established through exports since 1961. The company's commercial and passenger vehicles are already being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, South Asia and South America. It has franchisee/joint venture assembly operations in Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia and Senegal.

The foundation of the company's growth over the last 50 years is a deep understanding of economic stimuli and customer needs, and the ability to translate them into customer–desired offerings through leading edge R&D. With over 2,000 engineers and scientists, the company's Engineering Research Centre, established in 1966, has enabled pioneering technologies and products. The company today has R&D centres in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, in India, and in South Korea, Spain, and the UK. It was Tata Motors, which developed the first indigenously developed Light Commercial Vehicle, India's first Sports Utility Vehicle and, in 1998, the Tata Indica, India's first fully indigenous passenger car. Within two years of launch, Tata Indica became India's largest selling car in its segment. In 2005, Tata Motors created a new segment by launching the Tata Ace, India's first indigenously developed mini–truck.

In January 2008, Tata Motors unveiled its People's Car, the Tata Nano, which India and the world have been looking forward to. The Tata Nano has been subsequently launched, as planned, in India in March 2009. A development, which signifies a first for the global automobile industry, the Nano brings the comfort and safety of a car within the reach of thousands of families. The standard version has been priced at Rs.100, 000 (excluding VAT and transportation cost).

Designed with a family in mind, it has a roomy passenger compartment with generous leg space and head room. It can comfortably seat four persons. Its mono–volume design will set a new benchmark among small cars. Its safety performance exceeds regulatory requirements in India. Its tailpipe emission performance too exceeds regulatory requirements. In terms of overall pollutants, it has a lower pollution level than two–wheelers being manufactured in India today. The lean design strategy has helped minimise weight, which helps maximise performance per unit of energy consumed and delivers high fuel efficiency. The high fuel efficiency also ensures that the car has low carbon dioxide emissions, thereby providing the twin benefits of an affordable transportation solution with a low carbon footprint.

In May 2009, Tata Motors ushered in a new era in the Indian automobile industry, in keeping with its pioneering tradition, by unveiling its new range of world standard trucks. In their power, speed, carrying capacity, operating economy and trims, they will introduce new benchmarks in India and match the best in the world in performance at a lower life–cycle cost.

The years to come will see the introduction of several other innovative vehicles, all rooted in emerging customer needs. Besides product development, R&D is also focussing on environment–friendly technologies in emissions and alternative fuels.

Through its subsidiaries, the company is engaged in engineering and automotive solutions, construction equipment manufacturing, automotive vehicle components manufacturing and supply chain activities, machine tools and factory automation solutions, high–precision tooling and plastic and electronic components for automotive and computer applications, and automotive retailing and service operations.

True to the tradition of the Tata Group, Tata Motors is committed in letter and spirit to Corporate Social Responsibility. It is a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, and is engaged in community and social initiatives on labour and environment standards in compliance with the principles of the Global Compact. In accordance with this, it plays an active role in community development, serving rural communities adjacent to its manufacturing locations.