Source: The Times of India
MUMBAI - The financial deal between Tata Motors and Ford Motor Company goes beyond the $2.3 billion, which the Indian company is paying to buy Ford’s Jaguar and Land Rover marques. This is because apart from the acquisition cost of $2.3 billion, Tata Motors will have to shell out more for Ford’s continued support for the iconic brands.
The US company has agreed to support Tata Motors by supplying critical components, technology, research and development, vehicle financing for Jaguar and Land Rover. The after-sale-support, which is for a short period, comes with a price tag, thus pushing the total financial deal between the two parties.
Sources peg this to be $3-3.5 billion. A person familiar with the deal said the $2.3 billion only includes the value of the two brands and fixed assets, including the three British plants. “All other stop-gap arrangements are struck at a price and with certain conditions,” the source added.
When contacted, a Tata Motors spokesperson said, “Jaguar and Land Rover are being acquired with all technologies, know-how and intellectual properties for their businesses. This is fully built into the purchase consideration of $2.3 billion. Therefore the purchase consideration is $2.3 billion as announced and nothing more.”
E. Phil Haley of Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog recently interviewed Scuderi Group President Sal Scuderi about the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine.
“Near the end of January,” writes Phil, “I published a post at Life on the Road regarding the Scuderi Split-Cycle engine; an engine design improvement that, in my opinion, is the most important since Rudolph Diesel improved on the work of Nicolaus Otto.
When The Scuderi Group became aware of a post focusing on their efforts they offered me an opportunity to interview their President; and I accepted. The interview is pretty interesting and, hopefully, I’ll have an opportunity to do a follow up interview in the fall.”
The Scuderi Group has announced that Bosch Engineering GmbH will assist in the prototype development of the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine. As one of the world’s leading engineering services company, Bosch Engineering will apply its expertise to the development of the timing system for the gasoline and diesel prototypes. In this Podcast, Scuderi Group president Sal Scuderi talks about the news.
