Tata Motors is an Indian owned automotive company. Their core business is in selling trucks in India, where they hold 61% of the market. In recent years they have been expanding into the consumer car market. Tata purchased Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford and has turned a profit in three consecutive quarters. Better yet their innovation has disrupted the market with the Tata Nano, the world’s lowest-priced car.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/221696-tata-motors-puts-the-pedal-to-the-metal-in-indias-car-market
2 replies on “Tata Motors disrupts with the Nano”
I agree that Tata Nano has a potential to disrupt–cheap, small, and good enough, and soon it will just become better and better until it satisfies consumers who just want a cheap car. So how does a Toyota or General Motors put in place processes to allow this kind of car to emerge. It is Donnelley all over again. You need a process that allows very different product ideas to survive internally.
Mercedes: they own the Smart brand, very small cars, bot kept it outside Mercedes.
Morten
Another example: BMW owns MINI (the MINI Cooper). I’m not sure the MINI is particularly disruptive — maybe this example is more analogous to Lexus and Toyota or Acura and Honda being part of the same company — but it does give BMW an opportunity to diversify while leveraging the extensive distribution reach of their dealerships. Many BMW dealerships feature a MINI dealership on the premises and there are certainly cost savings to be had in moving MINIs around the world using BMW’s existing logistics and systems.