Tata PV Entity To Likely Get China’s ‘Chery’ As New Partner – Report

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China’s Chery Automobile could act as a strategic investor and technology partner for Tata Motors in the near future

The board of Tata Motors Limited officially announced a few weeks back about the approval of the plans to subsidiarize its passenger vehicle business including electric vehicles through different schemes of arrangement. A report suggests that the company would have a new pay roll and administration structure independent of the CV business for the future employees.

Shailesh Chandra has been appointed as the President of Passenger Vehicle Business in association with his role as President of EV and Corporate Strategy, and it has come into effect from April 1, 2020. He stands in place of Mayank Pareek as both will work on the forthcoming transition over the next few weeks and it will be followed by the latter’s retirement towards the end of the month.

Tata Motors has also stated the appointment of Sudeep Bhalla as the Head of Corporate Communications and he will oversee all the activities and operations of the Communications function for the brand, effective April 7, 2020. ET Auto indicates that the new entity will have Tata as the major controller while Chinese firm Chery will make strategic investments and be a technology partner.

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Tata appears to have considered American and Korean manufacturers but the bond with Chery Automobile is said to be tight. Besides Chery, Chinese companies like Changan and Geely could also be in the hunt. It is worth noting that Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover already has a JV deal with Chery in China. The deliberations are reported to be at an early stage as Tata could still approach other likely partners.

The “strategic investor” will help in saving costs and share investment burden in electric vehicle and other futuristic technologies. The report further said that the passenger vehicle subsidiary under Shailesh Chandra and Chery are seeking ways to jointly develop a new product onslaught while creating new synergies with build quality in mind.

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A range of new vehicles and SUVs are in the horizon and Tata Motors has begun 2019 with the launches of facelifted Tiago, Tigor and Nexon along with the all-new Altroz, updated Harrier and Nexon EV. The Chinese expertise on EVs will help shaping up the zero-emission Nexon and Tigor range as well. You would have already heard about Tata potentially using Chery Tiggo 5X’s platform for its upcoming Blackbird mid-size SUV.

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