is that true tata want,s to buy part of ferrari

There was an interesting observation in the Wall St. Journal this past week regarding indian acquisitions....After buying the company, indian acquirers leave the company alone - they didn't change management, interfere with product strategy, dictate manufacturing or direction of the company. In many cases, they didn't even infuse a lot of indians into sr. management. What they do is try to increase distribution of a company's products worldwide (of course this wouldn't apply in a multinational) . Essentially, the indians are white knights acquirers friendly to management (which may or maynot be good).

The Tata's are an amazing group...first class all the way.

 

The British aren't nearly as 'Nationalistic' as the Italians (well, except for Soccer - maybe an Indian company can make a bid for Manchester United -bwaahahahahaha) - and neither Jaguar, Land Rover, British Steel nor Tetley have or sponsor the world's most Internationally-recognized racing team on the planet. The Ferrari Formula 1 team is the pride of Italy - you can't just come along and buy the soul of a Nation simply because you have a lot of money. No Non-Italian company would ever be allowed to have a controlling interest in Ferrari - a company that's so popular and profitable currently that Tata's offer would be laughable, at best, to Fiat. You're stirring an empty pot anyway....are Indians that desperate for an ego boost today?

 

Well, if Tata can keep it that way, more power to it (or to him, rather).
However, if one looks back, the automotive history is littered with examples of acquisition and mismanagement leading into loss of identity, loss of ingenuity and production of un-appealing vehicles.
It seems like a curse that affects all automotive groups.

 

It's not April Fools Day yet.

 

I think it's more about shareholder value than nationalism.
IMHO...If you (fiat) can get a great price for your asset, sell it to the greater fool.

I'm not sure a new owner could do much without damaging the brand. For instance, Lotus is owned by the Malaysians...who floated a trial ballon that they wanted to build the Esprit replacement in Malaysian instead of the UK. Wow, that didn't last long because of market feedback (less than 2 weeks)....the Malaysian owners found out the hard way no one wants a Lotus built in Malaysia, even if labor costs are cheaper.

 

15 years ago nobody cared about China or India...now everybody pays attention. Lets face it money talks , the US and EUROPE are in trouble when it comes to that...little by little they 're coming and we are doing nothing about it.They bought Jaguar and Land rover...If EUROPE and the US keeps on going like now, not impossible to see Ferrari have trouble years in front of them...then they will have to do whatever they need to keep going...for the longest time we have been their biggest market, but 15 years from now the EAST may very well be their biggest market so India or China may have a lot to say... and as we know they are not playing around...so who knows.Ferrari claims Asia to be the fastest growing continent for sales.

 

Manchester United is owned by an American.. what happened to the british not being "Nationalistic" there?

 

what does sponsoring an F1 team have to do with it? you mean to say that Tetley can be bought because they don't sponsor Ferrari, but AMD cannot because they do?

Again.. Manchester United?

Do you happen to know what Tata's hypothetical offer would be? so how can you say it was laughable?
Was Tata's offer for J/LR laughable? well clearly not, since they landed the deal

 

The purchase of J/LR was predicated on Ford wanting/needing to sell the companies to someone, anyone, to raise cash. You're implying that a similar situation exists with Fiat/Ferrari - based on what information? Do you work for Fiat, and would lay-claim that Ferrari would somehow be 'for-sale'?

BTW, Ferrari doesn't just 'sponsor' an F1 team, genius, they ARE an F1 team....a highly-profitable, successful one. Again, you're stirring an empty pot...

 

Didn't imply, or claim, anything of the sort. However, in the event that Ferrari is for sale, and Tata was considering it, their offer wouldn't be "laughable."

You think I don't know that?? You implied that since those companies neither "have or sponsor the world's most Internationally-recognized racing team on the planet," they can be sold, whereas since Ferrari is "the world's most Internationally-recognized racing team on the planet," they can be. which is a rubbish statement.

Your arguments till this point didn't add up. I was just pointing that out

 

Ferrari is a business, just like Tata. The notion of spirit and legend and that something unquely Italian are emotions that some people have, but in the world of business the only thing that matters is money and profits, which is not to say that's a bad thing.

Let's take Lamborghini as an example. In 1972, part of the company was sold to Fiat. In 1978, it went bust. In 1984 it was taken over by the Swiss until 1987 when it was bought by Chrysler. In 1994 it was sold to an Indonesian investment group and finally in 1998 it was sold to Audi. Now you can be a purist and say all post-1972 Lambos are bad or untrue. Or you can be a racist and say Indonesian era Lambos were terrible. You can say a thousand things, but the fact remains that the company kept making cars as it always had.

Companies need money to thrive. Lamborghini today, especially the Gallardo, has become a car that you can drive on a daily basis without problems, much like the original intent. Ferruccio didn't want racing cars and I don't think anyone in their right mind would say a car that breaks down every twenty miles is in any way special, unless that's the myth you build to make yourself feel better, but the bottom line is that companies being bought and sold is something that should be looked at with an eye towards the future, not with panic and disgust.

So while this seems to simply be a rumor based on fact that Tata and Fiat have supply contracts and that Fiat owns Ferrari, if the day comes that Ferrari is sold to another company, that wouldn't necessarily be the end of the world. If anything, it could bring about a change for the better.

 

An interesting comparison - Lambo, I understand, traded hands for for financial reasons, primarily because the company was financially insolvent and needed cash investment to stay in business. Lambo almost went bankrupt several times and needed a 'buyer' to stay solvent and continue to exist. Neither Ferrari, nor Fiat are anywhere close to this financial predicament - completely the opposite. In fact, Ferrari is probably better now, financially, than they were before Fiat purchased a major interest in the company. Someone please explain to zalbahadurji why this makes Ferrari even-LESS likely to be sold-off to ANYONE, at ANY price (as-if Tata could afford it).

 

Not a comparison but an illustration that a company being bought and sold isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Insolvency is but one reason that companies are bought and sold; other times they are sold for profit by the parent company or when the parent company seeks to focus more on their core products. So let's say Fiat wanted to invest more in fuel efficient cars and needed to raise capital. They could sell all or a part of Ferrari to investors or to another company and then use the proceeds to invest in a new factory, R & D, whatever. As long as it makes business sense for a company to do something, they will do it.

 

if you read my posts carefully, you'd see that i was never questioning the likeliness of Ferrari being sold. in fact, i know it is very improbable that it will happen, and understand that there is no financial reason for fiat to sell. All I've been arguing is that people shouldn't be opposed to the idea of a takeover just because the parent company is INDIAN.

 

Holy cra* this thread is full og sh*t!

I wish it would stay italian and stay 100% Ferrari/Fiat owned because everything is mixing too much these days, a german Lamborghini, an american Aston Martin... But then again the results in the past has been good with awesome Lamborghinis and the best Astons ever made.


It's got nothing to do with the brand being taken over by indians but that uniqueness Ferrari has today of being italian and not in a multi-brand orgy (Audi buttons in a Gallardo, anyone?).



Let people invest in Ferrari, but don't let anyone else take over the car development.

 

The thing is, that is the issue. I don't believe the purchase would be legal, so the rumor is false and the question is purely hypothetical.

 

Audi buttons? No way!




My 308 came with a few proper BWM buttons

 

of course it's hypothetical. the whole rumor was started by Ratan Tata saying that one of his dreams is to "participate in the shareholding of Ferrari" in an interview.

it's not going to happen, at least in the near future. it's just a discussion