JLR India butts into German triangle

NEW DELHI: Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Britain’s biggest carmaker, is increasing its focus on cars that will interest a wider audience in India — the sub-₹50

NEW DELHI: Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Britain’s biggest carmaker, is increasing its focus on cars that will interest a wider audience in India — the sub-₹50 lakh range.

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This is a marked departure from the strategy with which the company entered India in 2009. Then it had just one SUV, the Freelander, priced below ₹50 lakh. The Freelander was phased out in 2015. But, now it has two new SUVs in that range – the Range Rover Evoque and the Discovery Sport. Reinforcing its India intent, when the Delhi High Court banned diesel vehicles with engine capacity of more than two litres, JLR introduced a petrol variant of the Discovery Sport.

The story is even more stark with Jaguar. In 2009, the starting price of its sedans was around ₹70 lakh, but now there are two models below ₹50 lakh. In June, it launched the Jaguar XE priced even lower at ₹ 39.6 lakh . “Even though we didn’t have a competitor for Mercedes’ C-Class and BMW’s 3-Series we have a market share of 9%, in India, up from 3-4% in 2010-11,” said Rohit Suri, president at JLR India. In 2015, the luxury car market was about 35,000 cars, with a 10% annual growth rate.

“We have to be more relevant as a carmaker to the Indian buyers, and have to access a larger segment of customers,” said Suri. In the next two-three years JLR wants to capture 18% of the Indian luxury car market.

The move comes at a time when the company has been cutting jobs in its factories globally. JLR’s internal estimates also show that its annual profits will go down by £1 billion (almost ₹10,000 crore) over a decade as Britain leaves the EU.

JLR’s focus on emerging economies is apparent – in June it set up a factory in Brazil. It is also hoping its sales to improve in China, which had been driving numbers till the slowdown hit last year. It’s assembly plant in India has helped it reduce prices. But Suri feels India has far greater potential. “We are not only looking at assembly in India, but looking at the global product line-up to address the sub-₹50 lakh segment,” he said.