Jaguar and Land Rover, the British vehicle-brand logos of Indian-owned Tata Motors, are displayed in front of their showroom in New Delhi
Credit: Reuters Photo
Chennai: Within 16 months of laying the foundation stone, Tata Motors will roll out the first car from the luxury Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) portfolio from its greenfield manufacturing unit in Ranipet district, in the first half of February.
Highly-placed sources told DH that the Range Rover Evoque will be the first car to be produced from the facility, spread over 470 acres, which will manufacture cars from both Tata Motors and JLR portfolios. “We expect the first vehicle to be rolled out of the facility on February 9,” the source added.
The Evoque is a compact SUV, priced from Rs 65 lakh (ex-showroom) in the Indian market.
“While the Evoque is the first model to be produced at the plant, the company will start manufacturing other models in due course. The company will start with CKD (Completely Knocked Down) assembly operations and will take seven years to be fully-operational,” sources said.
The factory’s inauguration is a significant development as it boosts ‘Make in India For the World’ programme and allows manufacturing of JLR vehicles from scratch. Such vehicles are currently being assembled at Tata Motors’ facility in Pune.
The company is investing Rs 9,000 crore in the Panapakkam facility, which will have an annual production capacity of over 2.5 lakh vehicles over the next 5-7 years. The facility — Tata Motors’ second factory in South India after Dharwad in Karnataka — will produce both conventional and electric vehicles catering to domestic and export markets.
Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin are likely to present at the factory located inside an industrial estate owned by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) in Panapakkam of Ranipet district on February 9, when the first car is slated to be rolled out of the assembly line.
The factory getting operational in just 16 months of the foundation stone being laid on September 28, 2024, further cements Tamil Nadu’s image as the “Detroit of India”, with several global automotive majors like Hyundai, BMW, and Daimler, having made the state their home.
Vietnam’s VinFast is rolling out electric cars from its greenfield unit in Thoothukudi and plans to expand the facility to manufacture electric buses and scooters, and Ford is reviving its defunct Maraimalainagar plant to produce new-generation powertrains.
Tata Motors’ announcement about the Ranipet facility in March 2024 came three years after the company chose to buy Ford’s Sanand plant over the Maraimalainagar plant near Chennai, following the US auto giant’s decision to exit the Indian market in September 2021. The Tatas decided to buy the Sanand plant as only a wall separated the company’s factory with the one that was owned by Ford.