JLR bets on local assembly, EVs to defend India luxury car ranking

Mumbai/New Delhi: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is stepping up localization and preparing to introduce four electric vehicles (EVs) in India over the next year, seeking to strengthen its position in the country’s luxury car market as German rivals gain ground through locally assembled models and rising electric-car sales.

The Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Ltd-owned British carmaker will begin assembling its best-selling Defender at its Pune-area plant within a fortnight, extending domestic assembly to almost its entire portfolio, the company said on Tuesday. The move is expected to reduce the prices of the sport utility vehicle (SUV) by up to 20%, potentially helping the company widen its customer base and compete more aggressively with market leaders Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

“India is a high-growth market for us. Yes the volumes are low, but we see a lot more potential in this market,” Rajan Amba, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover India, said at a media interaction in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Jaguar Land Rover will assemble the Defender’s highest-selling 110 trim using knocked-down kits imported from Slovakia. The 90 and 130 trims will continue to be imported as completely built units (CBUs) from the European country.

The company already assembles popular models such as the Range Rover and Discovery at its facility near Pune. With the Defender joining them, all its models will be assembled in India, barring a few trims, Amba said. The company also imports some vehicles from its manufacturing facilities in England, which now attract lower duties under the India-UK free trade agreement.

The Defender localization plan has been in the works for some time. About a year and a half ago, the company’s management said it was shaping plans to manufacture the SUV in India to benefit from lower import duties on completely knocked-down (CKD) kits, at around 16%, compared with tariffs of up to 110% on CBUs.

The push mirrors the strategy of market leaders Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which assemble almost their entire portfolios at their respective Indian plants. Jaguar Land Rover sold just under 6,000 cars in India in 2025, overtaking Germany’s Audi to become the country’s third-largest luxury car brand by sales. Mercedes-Benz led with nearly 19,300 units, followed by BMW with more than 17,700.

With the Defender’s domestic assembly, Jaguar Land Rover has localized the production of models that account for 95% of its sales, Amba said.

The company plans to follow the Defender’s domestic assembly with the launch of up to four EVs over the next year: the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, a new model called Range Rover GT, and the Jaguar Type 01. The latter will be the first new car from Jaguar under its strategy to become an all-electric brand.

The move comes as German luxury-car makers gain traction in India’s electric-vehicle market. BMW is the country’s largest luxury EV seller, having sold nearly 2,400 electric cars between January and June this year. One in every four cars it sold in India during the period was electric.

At Mercedes-Benz, more than one in eight cars sold over the same period was electric. EV sales helped BMW narrow the gap with its rival: BMW and Mercedes-Benz sold 9,768 and 9,075 cars, respectively, in the first half of 2026, according to sales data from the companies.

Jaguar Land Rover plans to import its upcoming EVs and has no immediate plans to manufacture them locally, Amba said.

Nehal chronicles India’s top conglomerates for Mint. From navigating the complexities of big-bang mergers and large-scale fundraises to decoding high-profile recruitments and seemingly inexplicable corporate pivots, Nehal focuses on unpacking the long-term strategies of the country’s most influential business houses. He aims to provide readers with a clear-eyed view of how these corporate titans shape the broader Indian economy.<br><br>His professional journey began at The Economic Times in 2018, where he spent over five years before joining Mint in 2023. Over his career, he has tracked diverse sectors like automobiles, metals, cement, power, infrastructure, and renewable energy. He also keeps a close watch on the intricacies of corporate finance and corporate governance. This wide-ranging sectoral experience allows him to better understand India’s large conglomerates that sit at the confluence of these vital industries.<br><br>Nehal studied mechanical engineering from the Pune University and graduated with distinction in 2017. Driven by a passion for storytelling, he pivoted to journalism immediately after, attending the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. While his time in the newsroom has made him a healthy sceptic, his engineering roots keep him perpetually inquisitive about how things work—and why they fail.<br><br>He actively encourages readers to reach out for feedback, collaboration, or news tips. Nehal can be reached via LinkedIn or directly at nehal.chaliawala@livemint.com.

Ayaan Kartik is a Delhi-based journalist tracking the ever-growing world of automobiles and their components. With an experience of five years ranging from short-form news at Inshorts to longform journalism at Outlook Business magazine, he has dabbled into different storytelling formats. At Mint, he tries to regularly mix story styles, from longforms to crisp news stories. He has completed his graduation from Delhi University where he developed a liking for reading and writing about the world we live in today. Apart from automobiles, Ayaan likes to read up on geopolitics which has increasingly affected various sectors of the economy. Of all the promises journalism holds, he likes the fact that it allows a person to simply explain to readers about what is happening in the world. And what better sector than automobiles, which everyone since growing up has seen and felt connected to. Whether it is China's increasing grip on automobiles to growing affection for EVs in the country, Ayaan likes to connect his love for geopolitics and data to his stories as readers become more demanding on the types of stories they want.

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