“It was thanks to his singular vision that Tata acquired JLR in 2008, and we owe everything we have become since then to his unwavering support and dedication. Mr. Tata led us on an extraordinary journey. He inspired incredible new chapters in our history. Under his generous and trusting guidance, we have felt deeply proud to be part of the Tata story.
“On behalf of everyone at JLR, I would like to offer our sincerest thanks for his remarkable leadership.”
Tata is also known as the mastermind behind the Tata Nano, an affordable microcar which is widely credited with popularising the private car in India at a launch price of less than £2000 in its home market in 2008. The larger Tata Indica, which launched in 1998, remained in production for two decades and became one of India’s best-selling cars.
Outside of his business exploits, Ratan Tata was an avid car enthusiast, known for visiting JLR’s UK headquarters every few weeks and spending a good portion of his visit on the firm’s Gaydon test track with then chief tester Mike Cross.
“I try to spend a couple of hours on the track with Mike”, Tata told Autocar in 2012, “but we often run out of time because we’ve started driving competitors’ cars as well as our own.”
He was also an advocate of freer and more flexible working practices at JLR, and hailed the efforts of designers Ian Callum and Gerry McGovern in particular as instrumental in driving that change – an ethos which continues to underpin the firm’s dramatic transformation throughout this decade.
“The younger generation in JLR is very supportive of change, and I believe overall the culture is changing. But I still wish it could be more open and flexible. Right now we want to get more products into the marketplace as fast as possible, so flexibility really matters.”
Crucial models launched or developed by JLR during his tenure as Tata chairman include the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport and every Jaguar sold in the last decade, including the F-Type, F-Pace and I-Pace EV.