Beyond India: Tata Motors’ Calculated Play for Global CV Dominance

Seventeen years is a lifetime in the automotive world— a space where transformation is often measured in quarterly results but driven by long-term bets. In mid-February 2007, when India’s Tata Motors and Italy’s Iveco, then a part of the Fiat Group, signed an initial memorandum of understanding, the move barely caused a ripple. It was exploratory, tentative.

A handshake to study possibilities in the commercial vehicle space. At the time, Tata Motors was known more for its dominance within India and its ambitions abroad, while Iveco stood tall as a globally established European manufacturer with a diversified footprint in ...