India Watch : Made-in-India Freelander from 2011

Autocar India, 11th August, 2010

It’s been only little over a year since Land Rover’s India entry but the British brand has already decided to go Indian. Come 2011 and Land Rover will start local assembly in India.

The first model to come through the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) route will be the Freelander 2. With that step, the Freelander’s sticker price may also come down to around Rs 25lakh. Currently, the Freelander sells for Rs 34.7 – Rs 43.9lakh in Mumbai, which is seen as a steep pricing for the vehicle.

Autocar India understands that Tata Motors will use the Pune plant which was previously used by Mercedes Benz, to assemble the Freelander. The plant has a capacity to assemble around 3,500 vehicles per year. Land Rover will use Tata Motors’ paint shop for the Freelander.

Luxury SUVs are picking up speed in the Indian market, with Audi gaining a significant lead in it. With the latest step, Tata Motors will be able to position its Land Rover more competitively in India. In its first year of sales, Jaguar Land Rover sold 225 units in India.

JLR will also start assembly operations in China. It is currently in talks with prospective partners to start assembling vehicles there.

[Source: Autocar India]

Clive Goldthorp

5 Comments

  1. Excellent news and, as this will be CKD, it’s also good news for the UK. Thank goodness Tata Motors bought Jaguar Land Rover!

  2. FWIW, Defenders have been CKD-built in Pakistan for some time without much fuss.

    Rumour has it that India will also build vehicles based on the current Discovery/RR Sport platform, including the Defender replacement – I am a bit concerned this implies that the powers that be do not appreciate the unique rugged/modular concept of Defender and will end up with a compromised utility vehicle on an overcomplicated/expensive platform.

  3. Does anyone remember when you could go to the Rover Mini webpage and make your own Mini? They had the “Mini grille” and a few other funny options including being able to make your Mini look like an Indian temple 🙂 – perhaps the Freelander could be dressed in the same way with little cones and bulbs on its bumpers and overriders :-).

  4. I doubt the new Defender will share a platform with current Discovery. Tata Motors has the funds to do it properly and their roots are in the developing world so why would they want to compromise?

    Personally, I think Defender will be on a new bespoke platform with the top models filling the sort of role left by the first Discovery and that the various Range Rovers will increasingly share their aluminum construction with Jaguars.

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