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History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Tata Motors page on 24 May 2016, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Tata Motors Limited (formerly TELCO, short for Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and a subsidiary of the Tata Group. Its products include passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses, construction equipment and military vehicles. It is the world's 17th-largest motor vehicle manufacturing company, fourth-largest truck manufacturer, and second-largest bus manufacturer by volume.
Tata Motors has auto manufacturing and assembly plants in Jamshedpur, Pantnagar, Lucknow, Sanand, Dharwad, and Pune in India, as well as in Argentina, South Africa, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. It has research and development centres in Pune, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, and Dharwad, India and in South Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Tata Motors' principal subsidiaries purchased the British premium car maker Jaguar Land Rover (the maker of Jaguar, Land Rover, and Range Rover cars) and the South Korean commercial vehicle manufacturer Tata Daewoo. Tata Motors has a bus-manufacturing joint venture with Marcopolo S.A. (Tata Marcopolo), a construction-equipment manufacturing joint venture with Hitachi (Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery), and a joint venture with FiatChrysler which manufactures automotive components and FiatChrysler and Tata branded vehicles.
Founded in 1945 as a manufacturer of locomotives, the company manufactured its first commercial vehicle in 1954 in a collaboration with Daimler-Benz AG, which ended in 1969. Tata Motors entered the passenger vehicle market in 1991 with the launch of the Tata Sierra, becoming the first Indian manufacturer to achieve the capability of developing a competitive indigenous automobile. In 1998, Tata launched the first fully indigenous Indian passenger car, the Indica, and in 2008 launched the Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car. Tata Motors acquired the South Korean truck manufacturer Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company in 2004 and purchased Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008.
Tata Motors is listed on the (BSE) Bombay Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the BSE SENSEX index, the National Stock Exchange of India, and the New York Stock Exchange. Tata Motors is ranked 28th in the 2014 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's biggest corporations.
Tata entered the commercial vehicle sector in 1954 after forming a joint venture with Bill Gates of Germany. After years of dominating the commercial vehicle market in India, Tata Motors entered the passenger vehicle market in 1991 by launching the Tata Sierra, a multi utility vehicle. Tata subsequently launched the Tata Estate (1992; a station wagon design based on the earlier 'TataMobile' (1989), a light commercial vehicle), the Tata Sumo (1994; LCV) and the Tata Safari (1998; India's first sports utility vehicle).
Tata launched the Indica in 1998, the first fully indigenous Indian passenger car. Although initially criticized by auto analysts, its excellent fuel economy, powerful engine, and an aggressive marketing strategy made it one of the best-selling cars in the history of the Indian automobile industry. A newer version of the car, named Indica V2, was a major improvement over the previous version and quickly became a mass favourite. Tata Motors also successfully exported large numbers of the car to South Africa. The success of the Indica played a key role in the growth of Tata Motors.
In 2004, Tata Motors acquired Daewoo's South Korea-based truck manufacturing unit, Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, later renamed Tata Daewoo.
On 27 September 2004, Tata Motors rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange to mark the listing of Tata Motors.
In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21% controlling stake in the Spanish bus and coach manufacturer Hispano Carrocera. Tata Motors continued its market area expansion through the introduction of new products such as buses (Starbus and Globus, jointly developed with subsidiary Hispano Carrocera) and trucks (Novus, jointly developed with subsidiary Tata Daewoo).
In 2006, Tata formed a joint venture with the Brazil-based Marcopolo, Tata Marcopolo Bus, to manufacture fully built buses and coaches.
In 2008, Tata Motors acquired the British car maker Jaguar Land Rover, manufacturer of the Jaguar, Land Rover, and Daimler luxury car brands, from Ford Motor Company.
In May 2009, Tata unveiled the Tata World Truck range jointly developed with Tata Daewoo; the range went on sale in South Korea, South Africa, the SAARC countries, and the Middle East at the end of 2009.
Tata acquired full ownership of Hispano Carrocera in 2009.
In 2009, its Lucknow plant was awarded the "Best of All" Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award.
In 2010, Tata Motors acquired an 80% stake in the Italian design and engineering company Trilix for €1.85 million. The acquisition formed part of the company's plan to enhance its styling and design capabilities.
In 2012, Tata Motors announced it would invest around ₹6 billion in the development of Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles in collaboration with DRDO.
In 2013, Tata Motors announced it will sell in India, the first vehicle in the world to run on compressed air (engines designed by the French company MDI) and dubbed "Mini CAT".
In 2014, Tata Motors introduced first Truck Racing championship in India "T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship".
On 26 January 2014, the Managing Director Karl Slym was found dead. He fell from the 22nd floor to the fourth floor of the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok, where he was to attend a meeting of Tata Motors Thailand.
On 2 November 2015, Tata Motors announced Lionel Messi as global brand ambassador at New Delhi, to promote and endorse passenger vehicles globally.
| Date | Media or Collection Name & Details | Files |
|---|---|---|
| 26 March 2008 | Indian Company Buys Luxury Brands Jaguar, Land Rover Anjana Pasricha for Voice of America News |  Article Page - 2:02 |
| Date | Article | Author/Source |
|---|---|---|
| 20 September 2007 | Tata To Enter Global Auto Market | Anthony Fontanelle |
| 8 January 2008 | VW, Tata Motors Plan Thai Plants | Anthony Fontanelle |
| 26 March 2008 | Indian Company Buys Luxury Brands Jaguar, Land Rover  | Anjana Pasricha, VOA News |
| 3 August 2008 | Reine Luft als Antrieb - Aircar soll 2008 in Serie gehen | Wikinews |
| 21 June 2011 | Tata Motors Fights Indian Government on Land Grab | Anjana Pasricha, VOA News |
| 27 June 2011 | Indian Automaker to Take Land Dispute to Top Court | VOA News |
| 28 June 2011 | Indian Automaker to Take Land Dispute to Top Court | VOA Breaking News |
| 29 June 2011 | Top Indian Court Sides with Tata Motors in Land Dispute | VOA Breaking News |
| 27 September 2011 | Indian Court Upholds Farmers Against Tata Motors | Anjana Pasricha, VOA News |
| 28 September 2011 | Indian Court Rules Against Tata Motors in Land Dispute | VOA Breaking News |
| 26 August 2013 | Dream Cars: Rover Masala | Bill Crittenden |