The stage is set for TATA’s acquisition of Ford’s Jaguar & Rover and make the most of holiday season. Although it has not been said oficially who is the preferred bidder at the time of writing but English Media has given their word for TATA. Britain’s largest manufacturing union has already shown its inclination for TATA because of their manufacturing background. With upto 40,000 jobs at stake the backing of union seems crucial and decisive. Other competitors in the fray are Mahindra & Mahindra ,another indian automobile group and One Equity Partners,a JP Morgan owned buyout group led by former Ford chief executive Jac Nasser. Tata’s bid has been estimated to be around 2 billion dollars which is much less than the price of 5.25 billion dollars blue oval had paid to buy both brands almost a decade back while Merill Lynch had suggested 1.5 billion dollars for the two prestigious brands. This deal will do good to everybody if they can manage the intricacies since Ford has it’s business in North America and losses to look after while TATA Motors will become global overnight. It will add two of the most prestigious brands of automobile industry but the challenges ahead are difficult if not impossible for TATA. Jaguar has never seen green ink in its books under the guardianship of Ford while Rover doesn’t seems to be the car of present or future with high gasoline prices. TATA’s can not outsource jobs or move manufacturing out of UK so they’ll have to look for other resources and innovate to keep manufacturing costs down. There are however opportunities which if handled well can turn around things for TATA. There are few models of Jaguar in the pipeline which if they market well,particularly in emerging markets,can help them as Jaguars are not considered ‘reliable’ anymore in Europe and USA. The demand for luxury cars has risen in emerging markets and TATA can utilise this with their existing facilities. FIAT chief Sergio Marchionne recently said to media that Alpha Romeo can benefit from Jaguar’s platform and delearship in USA. FIAT already enjoys close relations with TATA and Jaguar’s delearships in USA have been voted best in a JD Power survey earlier this year. So the challenge lies in utilising opportunities for TATA which they have done before.