The Empire Comes Full Circle As Jaguar Land Rover Investigates Pukka Indian Assembly

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Although Jaguar Land Rover has made tentative forays into building cars in India (such as building the Jaguar XF from CKD kits), the British luxury group, now owned by Tata, is apparently on the cusp of establishing full production in India.

Reuters, which broke the story, reports that the Jaguar XF and Land Rover LR2 (JLR’s most popular products in India) are the most likely candidates for pukka production on the subcontinent (as in, from scratch, not from CKD kits). The Range Rover Evoque is also rumored for Indian production, though no details were provided as to whether it would be from a kit or not.

The timing of the Reuters story is particularly interesting given that India’s already high duties on imported luxury cars are set to increase from 75 to 100 percent. JLR’s factories are currently stretched to capacity making products like the Evoque, and emerging markets like China and India accounted for over 22 percent of sales in Q4 2012 alone. JLR is also exploring production facilities in China and Saudi Arabia, due to JLR’s significant following in the Middle East, particularly for Range Rover SUVs.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Dimwit Dimwit on Mar 04, 2013

    Maybe Faisal could chime in with his opinion. Will the export market accept Indian made JLR's?

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