A daily’s business reporter has embarked on a trip to the subcontinent to find out more about the story behind the owners of the Jaguar Land Rover.
Birmingham Post and Mail business correspondent Jon Griffin is travelling around India with top executives from car makers Tata Motors and writing daily blogs about his experience.
The West Midland-based Jaguar Land Rover company, which is a subsiduary of India’s Tata Motors, develops and manufactures the iconic Jaguar vehicles from bases in Birmingham and other parts of the UK.
In his first blog, Jon has revealed that Tata was full of praise for the car firm and has promised many decades of ownership ahead.
Jon Griffin is finding out more about the owners of Jaguar Land Rover.
Jon, who has covered the company for several years for the sister titles, has also written profiles on Tata’s top executives with whom he is meeting as he travels around Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.
Birmingham Post editor Stacey Barnfield said: ”Jon was the perfect candidate to visit Tata Motors’ senior executives in India to ask questions about their plans for Jaguar Land Rover – a global business that is critical to the West Midlands.
“His knowledge of the company is second to none guaranteeing the best coverage for the Birmingham Post and its readers.”
The visit includes three official days of touring Tata sites and the chance to test drive some of the company’s vehicles.
He will also attend an exhibition at the company’s archives, a tea-tasting session and visits to the jewellery factory and innovation centre.
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Who is paying for this? And why is the editor so proud of the paper’s PR job for the city’s distant employer? How the readers must be looking forward to the next profile bio of a company board member. And the tea tasting report will be a blast. Ye gods, it has come to something when a major player like this is proud of such tosh. Get him back from this jolly and get him writing about stuff that will win you readers not a cushy holiday blog.
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Delighted to see a mate and former colleague enjoying time in the sun. Aren’t the Cov Tel’s editor Alan Thorne + the Express & Star’s biz ed Simon Penfold also on this pre-Christmas jolly though?
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The Det.Sgt. has a pretty major chip on his shoulder eh?
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Has anyone ever told you how funny you are Det Sgt Grungebucket? You really should be on the telly!
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Mike, You are spot on… a lot of journo chaps appear to have rocks on shoulders these days! The world has changed, so must they
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Ahem, as I was saying, who paid for these folks to go over to India for a jolly and report back to a no-doubt impressed readership on how interesting this company and its senior staff are? Instead of forming a little cabal to try to dodge the question, perhaps someone would answer it?
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I would suspect it was Tata who paid, seeing as they’re making £20,000 profit a minute at JLR, or something like that. Certainly not the papers. I really must disagree with some of the moaning minnie comments on here, JLR’s revival is virtually propping up the entire West Midlands region in terms of manufacturing and it now accounts for 20 per cent of the UK’s export to China. So, like it or not Det Sgt G this company and its leaders are very much of interest to people in the Midlands
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Det Sgt G is correct. This bloke’s on a jolly, otherwise known as a freebie. Don’t try and pull the wool over the readers’ eyes.
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The general consensus for the definition of ‘a jolly’ is ‘a party or celebration’. I can assure you that having spoken to one of the alleged ‘freeloaders’ who went on this trip that the punishing schedule was nothing of the sort. Those who went had meetings and factory visits almost non-stop and traversed India at a pace some of the dinosaurs posting on here would in all likelihood find hard to comprehend.
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