A month ago, big news came from the world of car manufacturing. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin had gone to America. There he met the leadership team of Ford Motors. Three years ago, during the Corona period, Ford had decided to withdraw its luggage from India. Now it was time to reverse this decision. Ford International Market President K Hart said that the company wants to reopen the Chennai plant. Wants to make cars there again which will be exported. When the company took the decision to close the Sanand and Chennai plants in Gujarat, it suffered a loss of two billion dollars. No company wants to face such a situation, but it was not expected that the condition of this American company would get so bad so soon. However, there was one person who understood this situation—Ratan Tata. At one point Ford tried to humiliate him at his headquarters. Salt to steel maker Ratan Tata is no longer with us today, but the business culture he nurtured will remain an icon.
truck to car journey
In 1991, Ratan Tata became the chairman of Tata Group. At that time Tata Motors was mainly known for manufacturing trucks. Tata Motors entered car manufacturing in 1998 and launched the Tata Indica at the end of the year. It was the first modern car designed by an Indian company. Ratan Tata worked very hard for this, but when the car came in the market, it did not live up to the expectations and his dream started falling apart.
Indica has seen the highest number of breakdown complaints on the roads of Delhi and Mumbai, especially during the rainy season. In 1999, Tata Group planned to close the car business. Ratan Tata was disappointed and considered it a big blow for himself.
Then Ford Motors proposed to buy the car business of Tata Motors. Ratan Tata and his team went to Ford's headquarters in Detroit, where they were humiliated in a three-hour meeting. Ford Chairman Bill Ford asked Ratan Tata, “When you had no experience in making cars, why did you take this childish step?” He said they would do him a favor by buying his car business. Hearing this, Ratan Tata was very hurt and that very night he gave up the idea of selling the car business and returned to Mumbai on the very next flight.
Bill Ford said to Ratan Tata, “When you had no experience in making cars, why did you take this childish step?” He said they would do him a favor by buying his car business. Ratan Tata was very hurt after hearing this and that very night he gave up the idea of selling the car business and returned to Mumbai on the very next flight.
Ratan Tata had decided that now he would teach Ford a lesson. In 2008, Tata Motors reached new heights of success, while Ford's situation was deteriorating. In the same year, Ratan Tata proposed to buy Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover brands. At that time Ford was incurring huge losses from these brands. When Bill Ford came to Mumbai, he said, “You are doing us a big favor.” Ratan Tata did not close these brands, but made them successful.
Today Jaguar and Land Rover are among the world's most popular car brands, and Tata Motors is a leading international car company. Ratan Tata's name will be taken among the most respected industrialists of the world. Not as arrogant as Bill Ford. The Tata Group donates 66 percent of its earnings to charity. Goodbye Ratan Novel Tata.
Tags: ratan tata
FIRST PUBLISHED: October 10, 2024, 05:19 IST