Tata Motors announced today that their Land Rover Freelander 2 SUV will be assembled as a CKD rather than a CBU at their new plant near Pune. As a result, the prices have dropped significantly and the new prices are as follows –

SE Variant – Rs. 33.89 lakhs, ex-Mumbai

HSE Variant – Approx. 40 lakhs, ex-Mumbai.

The S variant has been dropped. The SE is equipped with a 2.2 litre diesel engine that produces 150 bhp along with a healthy torque figure of 42.8 kgm. The HSE variant has the same engine but in a higher state of tune – producing 190 bhp.

Terrain response and GPS are standard on both variants.

Speaking to journalists today at their plant inauguration at the former Mercedes-Benz site near Pune, Carl Peter Forster, group CEO, Tata Motors and Dr. Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover said that they were discussing with the government regarding the duty structure. They also said that assembling transmissions in India doesn’t make sense and that by assembling the Freelander here in India, they’re trying to make their cars more accessible.

They have chalked out 40 product actions over the next 5 years – totally new chassis, engines, body derivatives included. With the opening of the plant, JLR says that they not only have created new jobs in India but in the UK as well, needed to support the structure. The Tata motors involvement helped reduce investment and resources required.

When asked about the Chinese market, they said that currently there are 500 people working for JLR in China, where sales are nearly 26000 as of last year, compared to 891 cars in India. The XJ is now the second best-selling cars in its class and the Range Rover is the best in its segment.

Read our review of the Land Rover Freelander on the next page! ->