It's Official: Land Rover Now Made in India ( FORBES )
The rugged, Safari-inspired, sport utility brand, Land Rover, made its official debut in India on Friday. It’s owner, Tata Motors (TTM), turned on the production line for the first time since it acquired the brand along with Jaguar in 2008 for 1.15 billion GBP, or around $2.3 billion, from Detroit automaker Ford.
The assembly line, located in the city of Pune in western India, will build the Freelander 2 model with parts from Tata’s Land Rover facility in Liverpool, England.
“There is a taxation benefit which will be rolled over to our customers,” Carl-Peter Forster, chief executive and managing director for the Tata Motors group, was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal’s Friday edition.
“But setting up an assembly plant shows Jaguar Land Rover is increasingly becoming a part of India. It shows we are more rooted, more grounded in the Indian market and we have a larger commitment than just selling a few cars.”
Investors have had their eyes on the Tata purchase of such a massive global brand for the last three years, holding out high hopes for the luxury names in Tata’s portfolio of passenger cars. The Jaguar Land Rover deal essentially turned Tata into a global automaker. It hopes to launch its version of the low cost mini-city car, Nano, in markets outside of India next year.
Abhijit Sarkar, co-manager of the $113 million Dreyfus Emerging Asia Fund (DEAAX), told Forbes this week that, Tata Motors has managed to turn Jaguar-Land Rover around since buying it from Ford. “Right now, Jag and Land Rover are experiencing lifetime record sales of around 300,000 vehicles, with profits of 1.3 billion pounds. That’s made the
acquistion pay for itself,” he says. Tata is the fund’s No. 1 holding.
It's Official: Land Rover Now Made in India - Forbes