India to make JLR's Range Rover for first time, delivery starts May 24

Prices of 'flagship car' and its sport variant will reduce by 18-22%, say senior executives of Tata Motors-owned company

India is set to become the first country since 1970 to manufacture completely knocked down (CKD) units of the “flagship” Range Rover and Range Rover Sport cars outside Solihull in the United Kingdom.

The CKD units imported from the UK and assembled in India would reduce prices by 18-22 per cent, said senior executives of Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India.

Deliveries of the locally manufactured Range Rover started on Friday, while that of Range Rover Sport will begin on August 16. JLR’s facility in Pune already makes Range Rover Velar, Evoque, Jaguar F-PACE, and Discovery Sport.

The move to make two more cars domestically comes after the company’s retail sales in India jumped 81 per cent 

– its best since its launch here in 2009 – to 4,436 units in FY24. 

JLR plans to double its India sales in around three years. It plans to launch six new electric vehicles (EVs) in India by 2030, starting with the Range Rover BEV next year. JLR India Managing Director Rajan Amba said the company had already received 400 expressions of interest for a car to be launched at the end of next year, but the price is not disclosed.

“My focus is on India and the way forward is local manufacturing. Apart from the Defender, our entire portfolio is now made here (assembled as CKD units),” Amba said. This would help the company achieve timely delivery and boost the supply situation.

Models have a waiting period ranging from 3-4 months to 12-15 months. Currently, the 7-9 months of waiting time for Range Rover and Range Rover Sport will also come down, Amba said.

“It also makes sure that we get our pricing right for the market. The pricing (of these cars) would come down by 18-22 per cent or so. This brings us into a price bracket where we can appeal to a larger consumer base where we had potential but were not able to tap.”

Range Rover Sport price would come in at Rs 1.4 crore compared to Rs 1.8 crore now, while that of Range Rover will be at Rs 2.6 crore from Rs 3.2 crore for one variant and Rs 2.36 crore from Rs 2.8 crore for another.

Amba said around 80 per cent of the bookings were for Range Rover.

JLR India has six to seven months of sales in its order book and the waiting period for its cars is expected to come down in around a year. India will supplement the Range Rover’s global production in Solihull, which has been the iconic car’s manufacturing site since 1970. Solihull will also produce Range Rover’s upcoming fully-electric model, as well as being the home for the company’s pinnacle ‘SV’ vehicles.

Amba did not comment on JLR India’s investments for local manufacturing and clarified that there are not many Indian vendors in JLR’s global sourcing plans.

JLR India has no plans for making cars from scratch in India at the moment. On reports that JLR is building a plant in South India to make cars, Amba said: “Tata Motors is doing something in Tamil Nadu. It has got nothing to do with JLR and its pure speculation. For anybody to invest in the car industry it involves a significant amount of money. The business case for that would be quite elaborate. The Indian vendor base is quite small. We are trying to source more and more from India from a global perspective.”

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran thanked Ratan Tata for bringing JLR to the Tata family 15 years ago. “What a journey it has been from there on. Manufacturing of Range Rover in India should send a signal and show the confidence we have in India,” he told reporters on Friday. 

Range Rover Managing Director Geraldine Ingham said: “Across the globe, we’re seeing the highest levels of client demand for Range Rover in our 53-year history. This is an unprecedented success story and India is a very important part of it.”

JLR Chief Commercial Officer Lennard Hoornik said the Indian clientele want personalised and customised cars and “without local manufacturing, we really cannot play into that. Range Rover has a very bright future”.