- indexjr.jpg (5.62 KiB) Viewed 7922 times
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the British carmaker owned by India’s Tata Motors plans to set up an engine manufacturing facility in India to meet the demand in the country.
Ralph Speth, CEO, JLR, confirmed the move, but did not divulge the timeline.
JLR sources 100% of its engine requirement from Ford, manufactured in Mexico.
The company, that is investing £355 million in an engine plant in the UK said the investments on the planned Indian facility could be lesser. Speaking to a group of visiting Indian journalists at the Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said the company has already started a hi-tech engine programme for Europe with the UK plant.
It was reported that at present Jaguar Land Rover assembles sports utility vehicle Freelander at Tata Motors’ Pune plant. He was also mentioned as saying that the idea is to have a premium range and a lower range. While the premium range would be produced in the UK plant, the company is looking to manufacture the lower range in India.
The firm’s sales grew by 18% in 2011 to 274,280 units. But it is still small when compared to others in the market. Its German rivals BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi sold 1.7 million, 1.4 million and 1.3 million units respectively in 2011.
