Jaguar Land Rover considers manufacture of SUVs in India

New Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover India has been reportedly considering the manufacture of Land Rover SUVs in India. So far, the JLR has been assembling both sedans and SUVs at its plant in Pune, using imported kits. So, JLR considers manufacturing SUVs fully in India to make their products available at a better price.

Component vendors are reported to have been contacted by the JLR, as it contemplates the feasibility of manufacturing SUVs completely in India. Meanwhile, it also wants to manufacture a mini Land Rover Defender model for the Indian market.

All these talks still have been remaining as preliminary discussions internally, while their engineers have been talking to component suppliers over the cost and quality of components. So, the Land Rover Defender’s mini version will be the first to come out of the Tata-JLR’s Pune plant, as a fully manufactured JLR product from India.

This shows that the Jaguar Land Rover India is well aware of the fact that SUVs are the hottest in India, after hatchbacks. Customers show a lot of interest in buying SUVs than sedans, which the Tata-acquired British car manufacturer seems to realize.

The JLR has been lining-up its portfolio with entry-level Sedans and SUVs, which it is likely to continue to do so, given the sensibilities of Indian buyers. Currently, it’s portfolio is studded with mostly higher-end products.

The Tata owned carmaker also eyed volume sales and tested feasibility of local manufacture already, when the brand was acquired by Tata. Now, the brand has reposed faith and confidence on component vendors and hence the manufacture of SUVs and the mini Defender is likelier than before.

As with the XE Sedan and the Evoque, JLR looks to drive volume sales by creating new entry-level products in an effort to achieve sales of a million units before 2020.

Source: vicky.in