JLR drives in new Range Rover

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover on Friday launched its all new version of sports utility vehicle Range Rover with price starting from Rs 1.72 crore, or Rs 17.2 million, (ex-showroom Delhi).

The company, which is looking to strengthen its presence in the Indian market, also said it will look at launching smaller luxury SUVs to compete with the likes of BMW's X1 and Audi's Q3.

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"The new Range Rover is one of the most iconic vehicles from the JLR portfolio. The global reveal of the vehicle took place in September this year. As India is our priority market, now we are introducing the model here," Global Range Rover brand manager Scott Dicken told reporters.

Depending on specifications and variants the price of the new Range Rover can up to Rs 1.9 crore (Rs 19 million). The vehicle will be available in both petrol and diesel options.

While the petrol version will be powered by a 5 litre V8 engine, the diesel one will have a 4.4 litre V8 engine.

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Commenting on the company's plans for India, JLR India vice president Rohit Suri said: "We are looking at smaller categories of vehicles and products are at initial planning stages."

He said the segment, where BMW, Audi and Mercedes are significant players, is where prices start from Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 milion) and above.

"It is a very important and dominant segment and we are considering entering that segment," Suri said but declined to comment on any details.

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Dicken also said: "When the industry is gradually downsizing in terms of vehicle's powertrain and other specification, we cannot avoid it and we are looking at all options."

When asked about possibility of assembling more models in India to have price advantage, Suri said: "We are looking at more models to be assembled in India. We are conducting a study to find which model will make a business sense for us but nothing has been decided yet."

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Suri further said Evoque is also one of the models being considered for assembly in India.

At present, JLR assembles only the Freelander in India at Tata Motors' Pimpri plant.

Dicken said in the last 12 months, JLR has sold over a lakh units of the Evoque globally.

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He further said the Indian market continues to be a strategic one for the company although JLR has recently announced a JV in China with Chery Automobile Co with plans to invest 10.9 billion RMB.

Suri said JLR will expand its dealership network to 25 by the end of 2013-14 from the current 15 with a focus on tier II cities like Chandigarh and Bhuvaneshwar.