JLR and Tata want to build EVs in India

JLR and its Indian parent company Tata Motors want to produce electric cars on a large scale in India and export them from there. According to a media report, negotiations to this end are well advanced.

As the Indian portal Autocar Professional reports, the talks are already at an “advanced stage of conclusion.” If given the green light, the carmaker would build the largest JLR plant outside the UK – in addition to the plants there, JLR also operates a factory in Slovakia. According to the report, the Indian plant is expected to be built in the state of Gujarat. However, the company is still examining alternatives, for example, in the state of Pune.

Joint BEV production in India could make sense: Tata reportedly wants to use JLR’s 800-volt Electrified Modular Architecture ( EMA) platform for its future Avinya series. Tata Passenger Electric Mobility (TPEM) and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), both wholly owned subsidiaries of Tata Motors Limited (TML), signed a contract to this effect in November 2023. However, there were no details about the technology or the planned models at the time.

According to the new report, at least four models for Tata Motors and four models for JLR, with a total volume of around three million vehicles, will be developed based on the EMA over the next decade. One-third of these are planned for Tata Motors and two-thirds for JLR. An investment of several billion pounds is planned for the production of electric vehicles in India. As JLR has a very small market share in India with its high-priced vehicles, the vast majority of JLR vehicles are likely to be exported. It is not known how many units of its models Tata intends to sell on the domestic market or globally.

As Tata had initially pushed ahead with its own development as a platform for the Avinya series, the subsequent decision to end the programme in favour of the JLR platform is said to have led to a delay of around six months. Autocar Professional assumes that the first Tata model with JLR technology will launch in 2026 or 2027.

This week, there was an insider report from Bloomberg that the Tata Group was considering a spin-off of its battery subsidiary Agratas. The step and a possible IPO would allow the division to raise funds from external investors. Such a step is also being discussed for the electric car business – albeit not as advanced as with Agratas.

autocarpro.in