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JLR to commence local assembly of Defender in India
The Defender is currently imported as an entirely built unit (CBU) from JLR's manufacturing facility in Slovakia
Tata Motors Ltd may assemble Land Rover Defender in India, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) chief financial officer Richard Molyneux said in an earnings call this week, in what could potentially lower prices and heighten competition.
The Defender is Land Rover’s best-selling model in the country, according to its earnings report, with Tata Motors already offering a range of high-end vehicles from its UK subsidiary.
“Most of our models are locally assembled in India at the Pune plant,” Molyneux said on Tuesday, referring to its Range Rover series during the post-earnings call.
The Defender is currently imported as an entirely built unit (CBU) from JLR’s manufacturing facility in Slovakia and thus is subject to steep import tariffs, resulting in a high starting price of ₹1.05 crors and climbing up to ₹2.79 crore (ex-showroom).
With the local assembly planned at JLR’s Pune facility, industry analysts expect a price cut exceeding ₹20 lakh, making the Defender far more competitive in the sub-₹1 crore bracket.
This strategic move follows JLR’s localization strategy for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models, targeting the domestic market. For instance, the ex-showroom price of the Range Rover Sport dropped from ₹1.69 crore to ₹1.40 crore (ex-showroom) post-localisation.
Following the recently concluded India-UK free-trade agreement, the tariffs on CBUs have been slashed from 110% to 10% within a quota. However, completely knocked down (CKD) units used for local assembly continue to attract a much lower effective duty of around 16.5%. This makes India an attractive base for assembly operations.
The Defender has emerged as the most sold model in JLR’s line-up, posting record global sales of 1,15,404 units in FY25, making it the brand’s best-selling vehicle. Other strong performers include the Range Rover Sport (79,862 units) and the Range Rover (76,715 units). However, as Motor Beam mentioned, performance has been mixed across the broader portfolio.
In India, JLR recorded an impressive 40% growth in total sales last financial year, with the Defender’s domestic sales surging by 90%. These gains helped the brand overtake Audi and secure third place in the luxury car market. The positive trend has been attributed to both price adjustments from local assembly and growing demand from high-net-worth individuals.
Despite reporting strong performance in India, its FY25 global revenue stood at £29.0 billion, with Q4 contributing £7.7 billion. Sales in Europe and China declined by 11% and 10%, respectively, while overall global sales fell marginally to 4,00,000 units. JLR’s EBITDA margin also dropped by 160 basis points to 14.3%.
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