TATA Motors Ltd has signed an agreement in order to potentially enter into an agreement to purchase Ford Motor’s manufacturing facility in Gujarat as it is looking to boost its production of all-electric vehicles. TATA Motors currently owns Jaguar Land Rover and is one of the dominant companies in India’s electric car market. The government has been trying to grow its business by way of offering billions of dollars in terms of incentives.
TATA Motors announced a memorandum of understanding with Ford Motors
The memorandum of understanding that the carmaker announced on Monday includes assets such as land, and all the eligible employees who were all working at the Sanand facility. The financial details and the estimated buying amounts were not disclosed publicly.
TATA has made its intentions clear that it will be investing resources into new machinery and equipment at the plan via its electric mobility unit and it expects the facility to have an output of nearly 300,000 units on an annual basis once it is fully functional and ready to go. This capacity can be bumped up to over 400,000 units.
Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director of TATA Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd. had this to say about this expansion, “Rising customer preference for passenger and electric vehicles made by TATA Motors has led to a multi-fold growth…. this potential transaction will support expansion of capacity.”
Earlier last year, TATA raised nearly a billion dollars from private equity firm TPG for its EV business so that it can compete in the same space as Mahindra and Mahindra. The interest in the Sanand plant follows US automaker Ford’s decision last year to halt production in India where it had a share below 2% of the passenger vehicle market and it even struggled to record a profit for over two decades.
Ford also said that it was looking at two options for setting up two factories in the country while keeping its plans on hold to make electric vehicles in India for exports.
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