It’s official:Tata buys Jaguar

The long-rumored deal has become fact: Tata will buy the Jaguar and Land Rover car business for about $2.3 billion. The deal will net Ford about $1.7 billion after it pays into the pension fund for the unit. The car company will use the money to revitalize its long-standing brands.

Tata’s acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover will allow the company to fulfill a longstanding goal — to move out of the East and become a truly global company. The first step was its acquisition of Corus Steel. Now, with Jaguar and Land Rover, it can take its aspirations a step further. East won’t just meet West — will East become West? Interesting that its two biggest western acquisitions are British: first Corus and now these two venerable nameplates. Tata was founded during the period of the British Raj. If Freud analyzed corporations, I wonder what he would think of that.

Tata has said that it will keep the unit separate from its Indian auto operations, famous for its recent unveiling of the one-lakh car, a small economy car that costs about $2,500. The one-lakh car is about as far on the other end of the scale from a Jaguar or Land Rover as a car can be. I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few years we saw another acquisition by Tata of a mid-market nameplate.

Whether Tata can make a go of the luxury nameplate — Ford couldn’t — is still up in the air. Certainly right now it doesn’t look so good: The economy is fragile and Jaguar sales have been dismal recently. But recessions end, and the good times have a way of creeping back up on you. When people are ready to open their pocketbooks again, Tata will be ready.