The vehicle whose exact shape and size remain nebulous – JLR says it doesn’t comment on future product – will use a new Tata Motors platform. It will evidently launch next year, primarily for Asian markets. As Jim Bolger once said, we’re part of Asia so perhaps it will come here too.
Tata Group boss, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, said the platform being used by JLR will also underpin a “high-end” Tata model.
Both are being made at a new factory in India.
“We’re able to bring the cost attitude of Tata Motors with the design sophistication of JLR,” Chandrasekaran told Autocar (India). “Then you get the benefit occurring for both in two different ways and the volumes go up, which justifies the investment that goes into the platform.
“We have bigger aspirations, both for JLR and Tata Motors.”
What exactly the model is and what powers it are unclear. However, it is unlikely to be electrified given India’s reliance on internal combustion engines.
Expect it to sell only in Asian markets, unless a strong business case can be made to export it to regions where JLR is pushing electrification.
The Indo-Brit company currently builds CKD cars in India, at its Pune factory. It assembles Land Rovers and Range Rovers from knock-down kits and has been doing so since 2011. This is to satisfy growing demand from Asian and especially Chinese customers. China was JLR’s biggest retail market last year, with over 100,000 sales.
That demand saw JLR revive the Freelander badge. Chery JLR is building a range of plug-in hybrid and electric cars for the local Chinese market. Expect exports of these to other markets at some point.
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