Tata owned Jaguar Land Rover is planning a new £400 million engine plant in India, sources told Autocar India. Apparently, the plant will be a “carbon copy” of a facility JLR has already announced for for the UK, which is believed to be in Wolverhampton. It’s possible that the Indian plant will be in Pune, a city that will also host a previously announced Land Rover assembly plant.
The Indian plant will make four-cylinder engines that are modular in design and up to 2.0 litres in capacity, according to sources. This fits in with JLR’s intention to replace the relatively expensive four-cylinder diesel and petrol engines it buys from previous owner Ford. The V6 and V8 engines they use will continue to be made by Ford in Bridgend and Dagenham for the time being.
It won’t be so soon though, as work on the Indian plant will only start after the UK plant. But when both new factories are up and running, they can churn out up to 500,000 units a year, enough to supply assembly in China, which was announced by CEO Carl Peter-Forster mid last year.
Jaguar Land Rover is doing pretty well under Tata ownership. They have just announced the biggest-ever profit in British automotive history with after-tax earnings of £1.043 billion for the recent financial year. This is few fold more than the £300 million previous record posted in the 2007, JLR’s last full year under Ford custody. Vehicle sales in China and India have made this possible – sales rocketed by 33% and 61% respectively.
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whoa…the indians and chinese are buying up everything that becomes available in the western world….Tata have done a good job so far to steer the brand to a bright future…btw Danny correct me if im wrong but doesnt JLR’s 4 cylinder diesel engines have been coming from PSA Peugeot -Citroen and that they dont have any petrol 4 pots currently ?