Tata Motors denies ending ties with Britain's Rover

Thursday, 09 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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MUMBAI: Tata Motors, one of India's leading commercial vehicles and passenger cars makers, Thursday denied reports the company was planning to stop selling its Indica cars to Britain's MG Rover. A company spokesperson ruled out the possibility that Tata Motors would part ways with MG Rover even if the British automobile company finalises a proposed joint venture in China. "There is no move to end our relationship with MG Rover. The reports (about Tata Motors ending ties with MG Rover) are completely incorrect," the spokesperson told IANS, without giving further details. Talk of a split between Tata Motors and MG Rover gained ground after a British daily quoted the chief of the Indian company as saying there could be "no engagement at all" with MG Rover if it tied up with a Chinese firm. "To be very frank we do not know what the extent is of their engagement with SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp)," Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors, was quoted as saying in the interview. "I would say that if their engagement is really a full fledged engagement, then I have no doubt that we will move to a second or third level of involvement, which is tantamount to saying there is no engagement at all," he added. It was earlier reported that MG Rover was on the verge of inking a joint venture agreement with China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp for sourcing of vehicles. Tata Motors entered into an agreement with MG Rover in 2002 to export 100,000 units of the hatchback Indica car, which are sold as City Rover in Britain, over the next five years. The City Rover, a modified version of the Indica car, is produced in both 1,400 cc petrol and diesel engines. Indica is billed as the subcontinent's first genuine indigenous car. Tata Motors, a truck and bus maker that expanded into consumer automobiles in the late 1990s, makes the City Rover at its plant in Pune. Tata Motors said Monday its sales in November grew by 24.4 percent over the same period in the previous year on increased customer demand. The company, an arm of one of India's largest diversified business conglomerate Tata Group, said it sold 31,428 vehicles last month, including exports, up from 25,255 logged in Nov 2003.
Source: IANS
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