Tata entered the commercial vehicle sector in 1954 after forming a joint venture with Daimler-Benz of Germany. After years of dominating the commercial vehicle market in India, Tata Motors entered the passenger vehicle market in 1991 by launching the Tata Sierra, a multi utility vehicle. After the launch of three more vehicles, Tata Estate (1992, a stationwagon design based on the earlier 'TataMobile' (1989), a light commercial vehicle), Tata Sumo (LCV, 1994) and Tata Safari (1998, India's first sports utility vehicle).
Tata launched the Indica in 1998, the first fully indigenous Indian passenger car. Although initially criticised by auto-analysts, its excellent fuel economy, powerful engine and an aggressive marketing strategy made it one of the best selling cars in the history of the Indian automobile industry. A newer version of the car, named Indica V2, was a major improvement over the previous version and quickly became a mass-favorite. Tata Motors also successfully exported large quantities of the car to South Africa. The success of Indica played a key role in the growth of Tata Motors.[7]
In 2004 Tata Motors acquired Daewoo's South Korea-based truck manufacturing unit, Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company, later renamed Tata Daewoo.[8]
In 2005, Tata Motors acquired a 21% controlling stake in the Spanish bus and coach manufacturer Hispano Carrocera.[9] Tata Motors continued its market area expansion through the introduction of new products such as buses (Starbus & Globus, jointly developed with subsidiary Hispano Carrocera) and trucks (Novus, jointly developed with subsidiary Tata Daewoo).
In 2006, Tata formed a joint venture with the Brazil-based Marcopolo, Tata Marcopolo Bus, to manufacture fully built buses and coaches.[10]
In 2008, Tata Motors acquired the British car maker Jaguar Land Rover, manufacturer of the Jaguar, Land Rover and Daimler luxury