Saar: The Tata-owned British brand will invest in its existing manufacturing plant in Pune to make space for engine production.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India has always struggled to trouble the terrific trio from Germany – Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – in terms of pricing. Reason? Most of the expensive stuff that goes into making JLR products are brought into India via direct imports. Result? High import taxes which drive up the cost of finished products considerably. To address that issue by some margin, the Tata-owned British brand will start building engines in India.
JLR will be pumping investment into its Pune-based manufacturing facility to make space for engine production. The company is likely to begin the engine manufacturing process in India with its 2.0-litre Ingenium series of power plants, both diesel and petrol. Why? Well, said series powers a range of products in the company’s broad portfolio, especially the more affordable ones. In India, models such as the Jaguar XE, XF, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque make use of the Ingenium series of engines.
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With hiked localisation in its products, JLR will be able to save a sizeable amount which it would have otherwise paid against import taxes. Those savings could result in the reduction of prices by up to 25 per cent in some models. Once done, the company will be better placed to compete with its competitors in the premium segment in terms of price and in terms of value.
When will JLR India start making these engines is currently unknown. But whenever it happens, expect Jaguar and Land Rover products to receive a revised price-list in India. What’s more, Jaguar Land Rover could even expand its Indian operations by exporting the built engines to other markets around the globe. If all goes well, there is no reason why Jaguar Land Rover won’t expand its engine-building portfolio in India. The next entrant will likely be the 3.0-litre diesel.
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