New Delhi:
Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to launch eight battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in India by 2030, a senior company executive said.
The company currently sells one electric model – Jaguar I-Pace – in the country.
In an interaction with PTI, JLR Chief Commercial Officer Lennard Hoornik said the carmaker will start taking orders for the Range Rover BEV for the Indian market next year, with deliveries expected to begin in 2025.
“We plan to introduce at least eight BEVs in India by the end of this decade,” he noted.
The British carmaker, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors since 2008, aims to become a carbon-neutral company globally by 2039.
Hoornik called the Indian market a “major strategic priority” for the automaker and noted that the country is on the right track when it comes to the transition to electric mobility.
He said encouraging subsidies in the initial phase, setting up the right amount of charging infrastructure and having a great product (EV) were some of the essentials that would drive EV adoption in the country.
Hoornik noted that governments around the world are trying to give electric cars a boost by offering subsidies.
“I think it (subsidy) is very important to kick-start that kind of transformation (to electric cars),” he noted when asked if subsidies could also help grow EV sales in India.
Hoornik said affordability is a crucial factor in driving electric car adoption.
“..Batteries aren’t cheap…So if there’s anything we can do to speed things up…once you get above a certain percentage (EV sales) it just seems to take off…I think it’s starting it is very important,” he asserted.
Building on the company’s overall roadmap in the country, Hoornik said the company aims to expand the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender brands, which have been strong in the Indian market.
“We’re getting some new product releases now within those families. There will be some special editions, but we’re also slowly moving towards electrification,” he noted.
The automaker plans to develop individual growth strategies for its four brands: Jaguar, Range Rover, Discovery and Defender, Hoornik said.
Each of these brands should have its own growth strategy, retail landscape and audience, he noted.
“In a country that is so big, with so much diversity, I think there is a role for each of the brands,” says Hoornik.
He noted that in the April-June period this fiscal, the company’s sales in India grew by over 100 percent and the carmaker expected to keep the momentum going in the rest of the fiscal.
“It is also important that we grow our order bank… it grew by about 50 percent within the same time frame (first quarter)… it is very clear that things are looking bright for us here (the future),” said Hoornik .
He noted that JLR being part of the Tata Group is a very positive factor due to the confidence the general population has in the diversified conglomerate.
Hoornik noted that JLR has a very positive outlook on the growth of the overall luxury car market in India.
High GDP growth, young population and rapid development of road infrastructure were some of the factors that bode well for the future growth of the industry, he noted.
“The positivity in India’s energy will carry this through,” Hoornik said.
Earlier this year, Tata Group announced a £4 billion investment to set up a flagship factory to make batteries for Jaguar Land Rover and other manufacturers.
The group chose the Bridgwater gigafactory in Somerset in south-west England over a rival site in Spain.
With a capacity of 40 GWh, the gigafactory will be one of the largest in Europe and Tata’s first outside India.
It will supply JLR’s future battery-electric models, including the Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar brands, with the potential to also supply other car manufacturers.
Production in the new gigafactory should start in 2026. PTI MSS SHW ANU ANU
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