Jaguar wants to accelerate growth as it completes 10 years in India

Completing 10 years of operations in India, Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover is looking to accelerate its business in the country, building on the foundation laid in the last one decade, a top company official said Friday.

The company, which assembles six out of the 11 models that it sells in India, is open to more local manufacturing depending on the market growth of the luxury vehicles here in the country.

"The brands (both Jaguar and Land Rover) are strongly established in India now. That is helping us in making it aspirational brands. It has helped us in our journey in a big way," Jaguar Land Rover India President and Managing Director Rohit Suri told PTI.

Reiterating the company's strong performance, he claimed,"One out of every four luxury SUVs sold (in the segments JLR is present) in India is ours."

With over seven million followers on various social media platforms, he said JLR has been successful in connecting with a large population of people who aspire to own the brand one day.

Suri further said,"We started with almost 200 cars in the first year in 2009-10. We are in the range of almost 4,000 odd cars (annually) now, which in itself is quite an achievement."

When asked about the outlook for future and the next milestone target, he said,"We would like to double the pace but it can only happen when the overall market grows and the segment size grows."

JLR's product portfolio in India ranges from the Jaguar XE sedan with starting price of Rs 40.61 lakh and going all the way up to the Range Rover priced at Rs 1.82 crore onwards.

Currently, it is locally manufacturing six vehicles at its facility in Pune. These are Jaguar XE, Jaguar XF, Jaguar F-PACE under the Jaguar portfolio and the Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Discovery Sport under the Land Rover portfolio.

Asked if the company would consider increasing the number of locally manufactured models, Suri said,"This can grow provided the market grows. We are not assembling the higher-end models as volumes don't justify local manufacturing. We will be keenly looking forward to government support to expand this segment."

To mark the completion of 10 years of operations in India, Suri said JLR has loaned a specially prepared Land Rover Discovery Sport to Rapid Response, an NGO that specialises in disaster management and relief, for disaster related relief work across India.

He said Land Rover vehicles, such as Discovery Sport, are renowned for their capability in tackling difficult terrains and situations caused by floods and other such catastrophic events and it will help Rapid Response in their efforts to help victims of such natural calamities in India.