Supplier CEO attacked and killed by laid-off workers
Thursday, September 25th, 2008 by admin
The Tata Nano, which will be the world’s least expensive car, has already exacted enormous sums of money and time. A dispute over the location of a new factory has cost Tata close to a year of court wrangling and might end up spoiling a £200 million investment. Now the efforts to build the Nano have cost a life.
Unhappy workers were invited to a meeting with Indian and Italian executives of Cerlikon-Graziano Transmissions, which makes auto parts, to discuss reinstatement. Only a few workers were in the meeting, but more than a hundred were waiting outside. When those outside heard someone inside call for help, they rushed in, and in a mob fog anger, bludgeoned the company’s operations head, Lalit Kishore Choudhary, to death.
It was later reported that some of the folks involved in the melee weren’t even employees of the company. What Tata will need to urgently figure out is where it needs to go — inside or outside of India — to build the Nano without backlash. In the mean time, our condolences go to the Choudhary family. Thanks to all who tipped in.
Fans of our monthly By the Numbers posts may have noticed the conspicuous absence of sales data for both Jaguar and Land Rover over the past few months. The reason we haven’t included their sales figures is because we haven’t been able to find them since Ford handed over ownership of the two British brands to Tata. The automaker from India says that it will no longer report U.S. sales data for its two newest assets because of what it calls a strategy that “stresses quality over quantity.” A spokeswoman for Jaguar tells Ward’s Auto that the brands were forced to report their numbers when owned by Ford and now, since they’re privately owned by Tata, they don’t have to. She also notes that the sales figures could create a “distorted and potentially harmful commentary.” Yeah, we suppose that happens when you sell a fraction of what your competition does. Still, Jaguar is missing out on an opportunity to revel in the relative success of its new XF, which we know has bumped up the brand’s pitiful sales performance in the U.S. Regardless, By the Numbers will no longer include spots for Jaguar and Land Rover unless someone wants to go out and count their sales by hand. Thanks for the tip, Joaquin!
