Tata Motors will assemble Land Rover’s luxury sports utility vehicle ( SUV )) Freelander in India, hoping to cash in on the lower tax benefits . Tata plans to produce 2,000 units of Freelander every year at its Chikhli plant near Pune once owned by Mercedes-Benz.
The company will assemble completely knocked down units imported from Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) in the UK.
The local assembly will start later this year, where we will produce all available variant of the Freelander,” said Tata Motors MD and CEO Carl Peter Foster.
Tata Motors has sold more than 200 units of its Land Rover brand in India and plans to focus on local assembling to gain market share. Freelander 2 will be the first locally assembled model to hit the market.
The recent Budget has made changes in the definition of completely-knocked down (CKD) kits, upsetting the plans of foreign car-makers.
The Freelander 2 will compete with Audi’s Q5, BMW X3 and the latest Volvo XC60
