Tata Motors rolls out Range Rover Evoque from greenfield Tamil Nadu unit

Chennai: Home-grown Tata Motors on Monday rolled out the first car, Range Rover Evoque, belonging to the luxury Jaguar Land Rover portfolio from its greenfield factory in Tamil Nadu’s Ranipet district, which was built in a record 16 months.

Chief Minister M K Stalin drove the first car manufactured from the facility inside an industrial estate owned by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) in Panapakkam, 90 km from here, along with Tata Sons’ chairman N Chandrasekaran.

The development further cements Tamil Nadu’s position as the leader in automotive sector with two car manufacturing units being thrown open in just six months – Vietnamese electric car manufacturer VinFast’s first India facility was inaugurated in the port city of Thoothukudi in July 2025. The state is already home to Hyundai, Ford, Renault-Nissan, and BMW.

“A day that defines speed, scale, and the credibility of the Dravidian Model. From groundbreaking in September 2024 to inauguration in February 2026, Tamil Nadu once again demonstrates what focused governance and clear intent can achieve,” Stalin said.

Tata Motors-JLR will start with CKD (Completely Knocked Down) assembly operations at the Panapakkam facility, which will take about five to seven years to be fully operational. While Range Rover Evoque, a compact SUV (sports utility vehicle) whose price starts at Rs 65 lakh (ex-showroom) in the Indian market, will be the first vehicle to be produced from here, the company will roll out other models as well in the coming months.

The inauguration of the factory is a significant development as it boosts Make in India, For the World program and allows manufacturing of JLR vehicles from the scratch. Such vehicles are currently being assembled at Tata Motors’ facility in Pune in Maharashtra.

Coming up in an area of 480 acres at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore, the unit will manufacture products from both Tata Motors and JLR portfolios and both conventional and electric vehicles for domestic and export markers. The plant is expected to create about 5,000 jobs with Industries Minister T R B Raaja saying that Tata JLR will also bring its suppliers to Panapakkam which will help create an ecosystem generating more employment opportunities.

“The plant’s production capability is 3 lakh vehicles annually and this will probably be the beginning for us to produce high end vehicles, not only in terms of the Jaguar Land Rover products, but also products with the latest technologies. Over the next 5 years, we will bring other models and also new technologies,” Chandrasekaran said.

The Tata Sons’ head also said the Free Trade Agreements signed with the UK, UAE, and EU and the trade pact with the US will offer “tremendous opportunities” to Indian companies as they open up the world market further.

The facility – Tata Motors’ second factory in South India after Dharwad in Karnataka – has come up in a record 18 months – the MoU was signed in March 2024, and the foundation stone laid in September the same year.

Tata Motors’ announcement about the Ranipet facility in March 2024 came three years after the company chose to buy the Ford’s Sanand plant over the Maraimalainagar plant near Chennai following the US’ automobile decision to exit the Indian market in September 2021. Tatas decided to buy the Sanand plant as only a wall separated the company’s factory with the one that was owned by Ford.