The official word is finally out. Tata Motors will assemble Land Rover models, specifically the Freelander 2 from November at its facility in Chikhli, Maharashtra. The Chikhli facility was earlier leased out to Mercedes Benz by Tata Motors which has now moved to its new facility near Pune. Mercedes Benz handed over the Chikhli facility to Tata in December 2009. It is presently undergoing maintenance work after which Tata Motors will install machineries for the assembly of JLR Group vehicles. The date set for start of production of the Freelander 2 is November. Land Rover prefers to start by offering its cheapest model as it would contribute to higher volumes.

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The Chikhli facility has a capacity to produce 3,500 units per annum on a single shift. As time passes by, more Jaguar and Land Rover models will be assembled here. CKD kits will be imported from JLR’s facilities in the UK. The Freelander 2 currently retails for Rs 35 lakhs Ex-Delhi and it’s price is expected to come down to a figure between Rs 25-30 lakhs which will certainly gather better volumes for LR. Intelligently, Tata has decided to start assembly in November as production ramp-up will be slow due to extensive quality checks that will be carried over. Moreover, anticipating huge demand, Tata will build up inventory so that massive backlogs can be avoided. Lesson learnt from VW India’s mistakes with the Polo. As a part of its expansion plans, JLR will increase dealership count to seven from three at the moment by 2010-2011. Expect a January 2011 launch for the Freelander 2.

A JLR spokesperson said

“It has been confirmed that JLR plans to assemble Land Rover vehicles in India, for the Indian market, from next year… we have no further information to share at this time.”

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