Mike Duvall wrote:
> John you missed the point. Your still thinking Ford's failed copy
> cat business plan.
Probably best to say that Ford's business plan for Jag vehicle
development has just been told that it has about 5 years to live and
that parts of it such as marketing will probably morph within 6 months.
Ford has sunk a lot of $$$ into new product development and part of what
Tata paid for are future year vehicles under development. One or two
might not see the light of day but most likely will.
Product development cycles take several years in R&D to the point where
every washer is spec'ed into build lists, every special part stamping
tool is built, the assembly line requirements are determined and tooled
up for plus countless other things that go into creating a car from
nothing. One doesn't through all that away when it will take a few years
to come up with an alternative replacement.
Tata will likely have very little influence over what models come out in
the next 2 years. It will likely be 5 or 6 years before a completely
Tata designed model appears.
Take Land Rover, The LR2, LR3 and current Range Rover are all BMW
designs. Ford has added their engines and a few other components but
these were designs already under development when Ford purchased the
marque from BMW. The next models of Range Rovers & Land Rovers will be
Ford designs.
Change happens gradually & hopefully for the better. But don't expect
much change product wist in the near future.
Teriann
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