Although Tata isn’t a household name in the U.S., it has the buying power to purchase some of the world’s most reputable car brands. Tata purchased Land Rover—along with Jaguar—in 2008 for $2.3 billion.

Prior to this purchase, both Jaguar and Land Rover were owned by Ford, which purchased Jaguar in 1999 and Land Rover in 2000.

The reason behind the sale was that Jaguar and Land Rover were running at considerable losses. On top of that, the Great Recession of 2008 almost put Ford under. By selling Land Rover and Jaguar, the Detroit automaker got a huge cash infusion that it used to survive the recession without government assistance—in stark contrast to its American competitors, GM and Chrysler.

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