Tata Motors: No Truth In Jaguar Land Rover Sale to PSA Rumours

Indian automotive giant Tata Motors has denied reports that suggest it is selling off the Jaguar and Land Rover marques to Groupe PSA. Earlier reports by British publication Press Association stated that a leaked document doing the rounds suggested that the sale of JLR to the PSA group was imminent.

The UK based Press association claims that a leaked post-sale integration document and information from an unidentified insider at the British automotive marque who states taht talks between Tata and the French automotive conglomerate suggest that the sale of Jaguar Land Rover to Groupe PSA is imminent.

However, Tata Motors has come out and refuted the claims made by the British publication. Tata Motors released a statement regarding the report stating, "As a matter of policy, we do not comment on media speculation. But we can confirm there is no truth to these rumours."

The rumours of Tata Motors selling off Jaguar Land Rover have been doing the rounds ever since the British automotive marque reported losses in the final quarter of 2018. These rumours were further ignited at the Geneva Motor Show when various outlets reported that French automotive conglomerate Groupe PSA was intersted in purchasing Jaguar Land Rover. PSA chairman Carlos Tavares in an interview with Autocar India at the Geneva Motor Show had stated that the French conglomerate was looking at acccquiring a luxury car marque.

British automotive marque Jaguar Land Rover has been struggling over the past few months as multiple matters including Brexit have seen the carmaker go into the red. Last year, Jaguar Land Rover laid off 4,500 employees worldwide and it also recently announced that it was moving production of the next-generation Defender to Slovakia. The British automaker's books have also been hurt due to a slowdown in sales in China, where sales have dropped by 40 per cent.

However, Tata Motors does not seem to be in any hurry to sell off the iconic British luxury marques to PSA, despite reporting its biggest ever quarterly loss last month. Jaguar Land Rover is already on the path of electrifying its powertrains to keep them in line with stricter emission norms and the recent success of the Jaguar I-Pace shows that JLR has till got its nose in the game.