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Ford Motor Company has announced the sale of UK brands Jaguar and Land Rover to Indian company Tata Group.

WMG has worked with both companies on research and development for many years and the director, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, had this comment: "This is excellent news for Tata, for Ford and for Jaguar Land Rover. It is excellent news for the motor industry and for the West Midlands region. Tata has accepted the business plan for the two brands and there will be no closures of UK plants. These iconic cars are in safe hands with Tata which has proved its capacity for running businesses in the UK with its acquisition of Corus steel. It is a win-win situation for everyone."

He added: "We have worked with both Jaguar Land Rover and Tata for many years and we hope to do so for many years to come. The company will continue to develop the brands and invest in new technology and, as our primary interest is in enhancing the competitiveness of UK manufacturing, we hope to be able to help them do that through world-class research and education."

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Tata press release:

Ford press release:

BBC online:

Birmingham Post:

Researchers at WMG at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ have devised a way of using a laser that transforms MDF giving it a surface finish that looks like some of the most expensive wood grains. The “LaserCoat” research project is a collaborative research effort consisting of eight academic, research and commercial organisations and part-financed by the Technology Strategy Board.

Work to find new ways to breathe life into priceless motors has caught the interest of one of the industry’s stalwarts. Researchers at WMG, the innovative solutions provider at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½, have been looking at how lasers might be used to help restore classic cars. They’re working with Coventry Transport Museum who loaned the university department a priceless Lea Francis Hyper racing car as a test model. After reading about the ground-breaking work, the Managing Director of Lea Francis Cars Ltd – still very much a going concern - contacted WMG to share his own experience of building the thoroughbred cars.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer visited international research and education group WMG today to see one of the UK’s foremost examples of universities and industry working together.

Alistair Darling MP saw how the £72 million Premium Automotive Research and Development programme (PARD), run by WMG at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½, has resulted in increased productivity, innovation and competitiveness in the West Midlands automotive supply chain.

2007 has been a very busy year for WMG: here we look back over some of the highlights. We welcomed many important guests during the year including the British Prime Minister the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP and the past President of India Dr Abdul Kalam and we are making good progress on what will be our fourth building – the Digital Laboratory.

It was announced today, at the Festival of Innovation, that Health Tech, the programme which helps West Midlands SMEs to innovate new medical & healthcare products and diversify into the healthcare sector, has received a £1.5m injection to expand and extend its work through to the end of 2008.

The Health Tech programme is run by WMG at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ and is supported by a European Regional Development Fund grant through the Government Office for the West Midlands to enable it to provide 5 days of free assistance to its client SMEs in geographic areas of greatest need for development.

STATE-OF-THE ART SCANNER GIVES NEW LIFE TO CLASSIC CARS**TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER ">** Britain has a unique motoring heritage – most of it preserved in museums – but researchers at WMG are to use high-technology to breathe new life into our classic autos. WMG’s Craftsmanship team, based at the ¹û¶³´«Ã½, have recently installed a £350,000 laser measurement machine, supplied by Metris UK, that can accurately measure – to the nearest micron – anything from the smallest component up to full size cars. And on Tuesday 13 November they will demonstrate this technology by laser scanning a priceless Lea Francis Hyper – winner of the 1928 Ulster TT race – to develop a unique computer model of the car.