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Tata Motors, Volkswagen Group end talks on developing cheap car
Tata Motors and Volkswagen Group have amicably ended talks on the joint development of a cheap car for India and other emerging markets.
Cooperation talks between Germany’s Volkswagen Group and Tata Motors about the joint development of a cheap car for emerging markets have been ended amicably, a Volkswagen Group source said on Thursday.
Volkswagen was not immediately available for comment.
In March, Tata Motors and Volkswagen announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a long-term partnership to explore joint development of products for customers in India and other markets.
Volkswagen’s entry-level Skoda brand was due to develop an entry level car platform together with Tata.
The development came even as Indian shares fell for a fourth straight session on Thursday, led by losses in financials and auto stocks, with Tata Motors weighing on the indexes after its first-quarter results failed to meet expectations.
The automaker’s shares fell as much as 7.2% to their lowest in over a year after the company’s 42% rise in June-quarter profit, helped by a one-off gain related to changes to Jaguar Land Rover’s pension plans, failed to please investors.
The broader NSE index was down 0.19% at 9,888.90 as of 0544 GMT, while the benchmark BSE index was 0.18% lower at 31,739.23.
The Nifty Auto index fell as much as 2.2%, its biggest percentage loss in over two-and-a-half months. Tata Motors, Eicher Motors and Motherson Sumi Systems pulled the index down, which has risen about 20% this year as of Wednesday’s close.
