Jaguar Land Rover set to power whole of Tata Motors

JAGUAR Land Rover could be on the verge of a major change in strategy that would see the firm manufacture engines for the whole of the Tata Motors group.

Reports in India suggest a £1bn research and development programme at JLR includes a joint manufacturing strategy for the UK and India.

JLR is expected to announce shortly it is to invest in a new UK engine plant, with strong suggestions the preferred site is a business park outside Wolverhampton.

The strategy would see engineers from both the Indian parent and JLR working together on a family of engines that would power high-end vehicles within the Tata Motors range as well as the entry level vehicles being planned for JLR, especially a likely 3-Series rival now thought to be under development.

The parent company believes the smaller cars will help its volumes while also improving penetration into new markets such as India and China, while protecting traditional markets such as the United States and Western Europe.

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The move is being taken because JLR’s existing engine suppliers, especially Ford, will not be able to meet demand and the Indian company believes the only way it will be able to meet its long term goal is to become the master of its own destiny so far as its engines are concerned.

The new power plants will be more fuel efficient than those currently available and are likely to be four cylinder, two litre products. The use of common engines will also mean economies of scale for the company.

The bigger six and eight cylinder engines currently used in the flagship models will remain but the move to smaller units will establish Tata as a mass market engine manufacturer.