Fiat looking to Tata for help

The troubled Italian industrial company Fiat SpA is in talks with India's Tata Motors to enter into some form of joint venture, which it is hoped will save the indebted Italian firm. The deal is expected to go beyond cars and will probably include trucks, which are an important source of revenue for both companies. Tata is keen to become India's biggest and best known car company and is sponsoring Narain Karthikeyan's F1 program while also providing software and software engineering services to Ferrari. The Tata conglomerate features more than 100 companies ranging from heavy industry to hotels and software. Tata is based on a textile firm established in 1868 and is still owned by the Tata family but in recent years has been shedding businesses in order to concentrate on high technology and automobiles. Grandprix.com