Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) today launched the armoured range of its Range Rover and Discovery sports utility vehicles, with indicative prices of Rs 4.75 crore and Rs 3.75 crore, respectively.
The company is also looking at launching the armoured version of Jaguar XJ sedan, which could be priced around Rs 5.5 crore.
"The armoured vehicles market is a very niche segment and we don't want to leave it out. We are launching these vehicles in India so that we have the complete range of offering here," Tata Motors Head, Premier Car Division Rohit Suri told reporters here.
Globally, the armoured vehicles market is estimated to be around 15,000 units annually but in India it is at a very nascent stage.
"We have just started exploring the market, we know there is some potential but it will be too premature to put a number on how many armoured vehicles we intend to sell in India," Suri said.
He said depending on the customisation levels, the price of the vehicles could vary but the Range Rover and Discovery sports utility vehicles will have indicative prices of Rs 4.75 crore and Rs 3.75 crore, respectively.
This is in contrast to the price of normal Range Rover, which costs Rs 1.06 crore and Discovery that is pegged at Rs 63 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
Suri said Tata Motors and JLR are currently working on assembling some products from Land Rover in India in order to meet demands in India. He, however declined to comment on details stating "it is a work in progress at the moment".
On the overall sales of JLR, Suri said the company had sold 242 units last fiscal and this year it is doing "several times better" without disclose details and target.
He said JLR is on a network expansion drive with plans to have about 8-9 dealers in India by the end of this fiscal from the current four.
"The plan is to enter cities like Bangalore, Chennai Kochi and Kokata," Suri said, adding one dealership in Ludhiana will open soon.
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