Halewood supplies Land Rover kits to India
JAGUAR Land Rover has opened its first assembly plant in India.
The facility at Pune, in the Maharashtra region of India, will assemble Land Rover Freelander 2 vehicles supplied in Complete Knock Down (CKD) form from JLR’s Halewood plant.
The move, which follows the company’s announcement of record profits, is the first phase of its manufacturing expansion into India and is an important step in helping the firm overcome import duties which make the vehicles more expensive than in the UK.
With sales of the vehicles in India already proving strong, together with the firm’s Indian parentage, the move is the biggest indicator yet of the group’s global ambitions and is is likely to be followed by a similar move into China.
The inauguration ceremony for the new plant was led by Carl-Peter Forster, chief executive and managing director of Tata Motors Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive of JLR.
Mr Forster said: “Today marks a significant step in our growth strategy for the Indian market. The opening of this plant demonstrates close co-operation between the parent company Tata Motors and Jaguar Land Rover and we are keen to develop this further.”
Dr Speth added: “We are excited about the prospect of assembling cars in Pune for the Indian market where we have achieved significant growth since we opened our first showroom in 2009. It is a great time to be expanding our operation in India due to the increasing demand for luxury products and the strength of the Indian economy.”
The firm said the Pune facility would have the same quality standards as in the UK and its development has been overseen by experienced manufacturing and quality managers who have moved to India from the UK.
The Freelander 2 will initially be available in two variants – the TD4 SE Automatic and the SD4 HSE Automatic.
The firm’s other models for the Indian market, which include the Jaguar XJ, XF and XK, the Land Discovery 4, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover are all imported from the UK.
