Land Rover has confirmed it will start shipping CKD kits to India for assembly next year but would not detail models or a start date.
“We are confirming the company is planning to assemble Land Rover vehicles in India from next year,” a JLR spokeswoman told just-auto.
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“Obviously we have a number of assembly plants and it is a CKD facility essentially. Unfortunately we can ‘t say at this stage where we will produce or what volumes.”
British magazine Autocar suggested one option could be production of the firm’s T5 platform that underpins the Discovery 4 and Range Rover Sport models. This platform is set to live on in 2012 for use on Project Icon, the Defender’s replacement.
JLR’s spokeswoman told just-auto the decision to ship assembly kits to India followed a “strategic review” of its overseas operations.
Land Rover insisted the facility would not be a manufacturing base and that all parts would be produced in the UK and shipped to India.
Separately, JLR officials in India on Tuesday confirmed that talks were taking place with potential joint venture partners in China to start local assembly of both Jaguar and Land Rover models. BMW, Volvo, Cadillac and Buick already have local assembly JVs there.
The news followed JLR’s first quarter of the financial year results today (10 August) that saw the automaker post profit before tax of GBP234m (US$369m).
