Jaguar Land Rover drops plans to make EVs in India, Tata’s premium EVs will also be hit!

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has halted its plan to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in India. According to the report, the company was unable to get the right price-quality balance from local components, due to which this decision was taken. This move comes at a time when companies like Tesla are preparing to enter the Indian EV market and competition from Chinese brands is intensifying. JLR’s EVs were to be built on the Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA) platform, which was also to be used for Tata’s upcoming Avinya EVs. Now that JLR has stopped production on this platform, Tata Motors will also have to reconsider its plans for premium EVs.

JLR announced last year that it would produce EVs at Tata Motors’ plant to be built in Tamil Nadu. Under this decision, there was a plan to manufacture 70,000 EVs every year, including export markets along with India. However, now a Reuters report suggests that JLR has stopped work on this project for the last two months. The company will now continue production in Britain, Europe and China instead of assembling EVs in India or manufacturing them locally.

JLR’s decision may also affect Tata Motors’ upcoming Avinya EVs. These electric vehicles were to be built on the same Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA) platform that JLR was going to use for its EVs. Now that JLR has stopped work on this platform, Tata may also have to rework its premium EVs strategy. Tata was planning to produce 25,000 Avinya EVs from September this year at the Tamil Nadu plant, but now there is a possibility of a delay in it.

The report further states that JLR held a meeting with local suppliers in Mumbai in November, in which the sourcing of EV parts in India was discussed. However, these deals were later put on hold. There are many reasons behind this, including the inability to balance the cost and quality of local components, the growing demand for hybrid cars and the government’s relaxation in EV targets and increasing competition from Chinese EV brands.

JLR currently assembles some models at Tata Motors’ plant in Pune, but India will have to wait for full manufacturing. At the same time, Tata Motors can now redesign its EV plan.