Creating the world's cheapest car, securing a takeover deal for two of the most iconic global car brands , and developing an air-powered vehicle have made Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata empire, a titan of the car industry. He speaks to Ben Oliver.
THE CAR industry hasn't seen anything like this in decades, if at all. In January, India's Tata Motors revealed the Nano. At just €1,700 it is easily the world's cheapest car and makes new car ownership instantly affordable to hundreds of millions of people in the developing world.
If it lives up to the hype, it could be as important as the Mini or the Model T.
In the next few weeks, Tata will complete its €3 billion purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford and begin the fraught and fearsome task of making the former profitable without the support and resources of a major global car group.
For most ambitious young car companies, these two momentous events would be enough for one year. But not Tata. By the end of this year it will start building a €4,000 car that can do 68mph and runs on compressed air. Developed by French former F1 engineer Guy Negre, Tata has invested €20 million to put the three- and four-seat city cars into production in India, with an Australian factory following next year. Europe won't be far behind.
Next, Tata will start selling tiny electric-powered trucks in the US, cashing in on high oil prices and American consumers' new-found desire to be free of their dependence on imported oil. And now Ratan Tata, chairman of the sprawling €32 billion conglomerate his family founded 150 years ago, has confirmed to an Italian news magazine that he wants to buy a stake in Ferrari.
It was Ratan who started Tata Motors shortly after taking control of the group in 1991, and the 70-year-old is the driving force behind its rapid growth and radical, imaginative new products.
He seldom gives interviews, but spoke to The Irish Timesimmediately after unveiling the Nano in Europe for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show.
Does he feel that an Indian carmaker buying two iconic British brands is a significant moment for the car industry?
"Some people have made it an issue, but it's not for me. I was well under age when the Raj ended. I don't look at this as a special moment. We are all equals in a competitive marketplace," he says.
"National boundaries will blur and we'll view ourselves as being in one marketplace. We are conscious that these brands belong to Britain and will continue to belong to Britain. Our intention is to nurture and grow them, and who owns them is not really material.
"We want to be an international car company, so we need a window to new technology. Some say Britain has lost its car industry, but that is an unfair statement.
"Tremendous technology continues to be created in Britain, so we decided to create a window to that technology, and to the people who create it."
Tata stresses that he employs a "light touch" when buying companies, assuring himself that the management meet his "ethical standards" and then leaving them to run the company. "In Jaguar and Land Rover we are looking at two iconic global brands. We are very pleased to have been considered as buyers. Our plan is to retain the image, their touch and feel and not to tinker with them in any way.
"I have seen new products that are impressive. We wouldn't feel that we could bring something to the table to turn those cars around."
Most of the world's major carmakers - most significantly General Motors - have tried to develop an ultra low-cost car like the Nano with which they might radically increase their customer base. But they have failed to get the cost low enough.
Does Tata feel his firm has embarrassed the major carmakers by getting there first? "It's not our place to embarrass others, or comment on what others do. We come from a low-cost country, and it is to the credit of our engineers that they met the challenge we set them.
"Other companies might have compulsions on margins that make this kind of car more difficult for them than for us.
"People in the industry said it wasn't possible, but now they see it can be done and they are doing it themselves. They now see there's a large market at the bottom of the pyramid, a market big enough for others as well. If more enter the market and we start a trend, that will be satisfying to all of us."
So just how big could Tata be in 10 years? "The focus will be on building capacity in India first, and then Africa. "We do hope to bring it to Europe, and we're not restricting ourselves to eastern Europe," he says.
"We already have distributors in Italy and Spain. It wouldn't be right to do it through Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships, though. That would raise an issue. But the idea that Tata will produce millions and millions of cars is wrong," he adds.
"There is a limit to what we can do. We are not on the prowl to acquire other car companies or add brands. We won't be going on a spree."
But what prompted him to get involved in the car business? Is he a car enthusiast? "I have a personal passion for cars and I have the credit and notoriety for getting us into this business. The car business takes up a fair amount of my time and attention and an enormous amount of my interest.
"It's a far more emotional product; I have a passion for performance, for the styling of cars and for the technology behind them."
So does he own a Jaguar or a Land Rover? "No," he answers with a grin. "But I hope to have one very soon. Both, actually."