Tata

Jamsetji Tata set up a private trading firm in 1868 that is now an Indian conglomerate comprising more than 100 operating companies in seven sectors – and incorporating its country’s biggest auto manufacturer. Tata Motors’ origins date back to 1945, though it didn’t build India’s first homegrown designed and built passenger car – the Indica – until 1998. The year 2008 would put the company truly on the world map, though, when it acquired British luxury car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford, and unveiled the world’s cheapest car – the Nano that when launched cost about US$1600. The Tata brand name itself came to Australia in late 2013 with the Walkinshaw Automotive Group forming Fusion Automotive as the official factory-backed distributor, and introducing the Xenon ute range.