Jaguar Land Rover shelves plan to build EVs at Tata's India plant, sources say
Jaguar Land Rover has shelved plans to build electric vehicles at parent company Tata Motor's upcoming $1 billion factory in southern India, four people with knowledge of the matter said.
The British luxury car unit was unable to find the right price-quality balance for locally sourced EV parts, three of them said, adding that the decision also reflects slowing demand for electric cars.
"For India, all the work (on JLR electric vehicles) has stopped. Everything has been suspended since about two months," said a supplier source.
Global car brands are revamping their electrification plans amid stiff competition from Chinese players, a shift in demand in favour of hybrids and as governments ease timelines to meet emission rules and EV sales targets.
JLR's decision is also expected to delay plans for Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, Tata's local electric car unit, to launch the first of its premium Avinya models, the sources said.
The cars are to be built on the same platform as JLR's electric vehicles and some components were to have been jointly sourced.
Tata began construction of the new factory, which will also assemble vehicles other than EVs, in September. The plant is slated to produce over 250,000 cars a year when it reaches full capacity in about 5-7 years.
The shelved plans called for JLR to manufacture more than 70,000 electric cars there and Tata's EV unit to build 25,000, the sources said.
The sources were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified.
Tata said in a statement to Reuters that the production timelines and choice of models to be built at the new factory in the state of Tamil Nadu will be aligned with Tata and JLR's broader strategy and market requirements.
Tata, the biggest seller in India's nascent EV market, faces growing pressure from rivals like JSW MG Motor and Mahindra and Mahindra which have launched new, feature-rich models with longer driving ranges.
Tesla is also finalising plans to launch EVs in India, which is the world's third-largest car market with 4 million vehicles sold annually. EV sales currently account for about 2% of total car sales.
ECONOMICS NOT WORKING OUT
In November, JLR hosted a meeting with local suppliers in Mumbai where it shared details of its plans and talked about locally sourcing components.
Some suppliers were asked to provide initial information on the pricing of parts but those talks have now been suspended, according to the sources.
JLR has most of its production in Britain, Europe and China. But it assembles some of its cars like the Range Rover SUVs at Tata's plant in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra.
Tata's EV unit had planned to firm up orders with some suppliers by the end of January but is now making changes to its designs as the economics of its plan are not working without JLR, two of the sources said.
Tata in January pushed back the launch of its Avinya EV to 2026-2027 from an earlier plan for this year. It was not immediately clear if the current situation will cause further delays.
"As part of our rigorous product development process, we continuously evaluate key factors such as design, supply chain readiness, and unit economics to ensure a competitive and high-quality offering," Tata said in its statement.
(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dubai Eye
11 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
F1 movie star Pitt finally gets to drive a Formula One car
Brad Pitt, whose new F1 movie is out next week, has now driven a Formula One car for real after testing a McLaren at Austin's Circuit of the Americas. The reigning world champions confirmed the Hollywood A lister drove a 2023 McLaren MCL60 car at the Texas track on Thursday. Media reports said the British-based team had been carrying out a private test with F1 regular Lando Norris and F2 driver Alex Dunne. It was the first time 61-year-old Pitt, who plays the fictional racing driver Sonny Hayes in the Apple Originals movie, had driven a real Formula One car on track. The cars used in the making of the film were Formula Two cars, modified by Mercedes to look like real grand prix racers. Champions McLaren had teased the drive on Thursday with a social media post of overalls with the initials BP and the caption "It's a Sonny day in Austin". Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, a co-producer of the movie, said in March that Pitt had shown real speed while testing the F2 cars. "Watching Brad drive around at speeds over 180 miles an hour was really impressive to see because it's not something you can just learn overnight," he said. "The dedication and the focus that Brad put into this process has been amazing to witness."
ARN News Center
16 hours ago
- ARN News Center
F1 movie star Pitt finally gets to drive a Formula One car
Brad Pitt, whose new F1 movie is out next week, has now driven a Formula One car for real after testing a McLaren at Austin's Circuit of the Americas. The reigning world champions confirmed the Hollywood A lister drove a 2023 McLaren MCL60 car at the Texas track on Thursday. Media reports said the British-based team had been carrying out a private test with F1 regular Lando Norris and F2 driver Alex Dunne. It was the first time 61-year-old Pitt, who plays the fictional racing driver Sonny Hayes in the Apple Originals movie, had driven a real Formula One car on track. The cars used in the making of the film were Formula Two cars, modified by Mercedes to look like real grand prix racers. Champions McLaren had teased the drive on Thursday with a social media post of overalls with the initials BP and the caption "It's a Sonny day in Austin". Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, a co-producer of the movie, said in March that Pitt had shown real speed while testing the F2 cars. "Watching Brad drive around at speeds over 180 miles an hour was really impressive to see because it's not something you can just learn overnight," he said. "The dedication and the focus that Brad put into this process has been amazing to witness."
Gulf Today
a day ago
- Gulf Today
Don't panic, there's still hope for interest rate cuts
Of all the losers from the Bank of England's decision to hold interest rates - which includes the 591,000 people currently on tracker mortgages, as well as those among the 7.1 million households on fixed rate mortgages who are scouting around for a new deal - the biggest loser of all could be one Rachel Reeves. The chancellor needs the British economy to start firing. Number 11 has very little headroom if it is to keep to Reeves' fiscal rules, which prohibit borrowing to fund day-to-day government spending, and avoid a tax-raising Budget in the autumn. Base rates at the current 4.25 per cent — described by the Bank as 'restrictive' — are throttling the growth that could ease the pressure, and provide some much needed assistance to businesses struggling under the weight of high financing costs, not to mention mortgage holders grappling with high costs. Three members of the rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee were sufficiently worried about the economy — and the prospect of inflation dipping below the Bank's 2 per cent target next year — to vote for an immediate cut. True, they were the usual suspects - dove-in-chief Swati Dhingra, an external MPC member, Alan Taylor, also an external member and the first Reeves appointment, and Dave Ramsden, one of the Bank's deputy governors. However, that all three of them combined to vote to defy market expectations and cut now, together with comments from governor Andrew Bailey after the decision was made public, have raised hopes that a cut could come in August. The City was previously betting on September as the more likely date. While even August may not come soon enough for Reeves, business groups would certainly cheer given the headaches created by higher taxes, rampant uncertainty and rising wages, especially at the bottom of the scale where those on the minimum wage have been granted a big raise. That is welcome. But we are starting to get to the level at which it's fair to at least debate how much further the floor can be raised before damaging the labour market and the wider economy, particularly given how shaky the latter currently is. Some companies have also clearly responded by squeezing those in roles that pay just above the minimum. The increase could thus be filed under the heading 'no good deed goes unpunished'. The unstable global picture, dominated by conflicts that look increasingly frightening, inevitably complicates the MPC's job. The outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Iran has already driven a sharp rise in the oil price, and a lesser, but still significant rise in natural gas prices. Pay close attention to the latter in particular, given the impact it could have on OfGem's next energy price cap, and the inflationary impact higher gas prices have caused in the past. Britain remains over-reliant on wholesale gas prices, a longstanding and vexatious problem that will not be fixed easily or quickly. The Bank said it was 'monitoring' the situation, but its rate-setters could easily find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place if the conflict damages the economy while also stoking inflation. Stagflation — a stalling economy, with high inflation and high interest rates — is the nightmare scenario. What really doesn't help matters is the unreliable data the Bank has been receiving from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), particularly the longstanding problems with its labour force survey. It also recently emerged that it got the April inflation number wrong. This represents a huge problem. If the labour market is weaker than the official numbers suggest, and wage settlements are lower, then there would be more scope to cut rates, to the economy's benefit. Recruitment firm Hays has seen its shares slump to a 14-year low as a result of a global slowdown in hiring, with its UK and Ireland division a notable weak sport. A 13 per cent decline in fees were forecast in the domestic market while the company expects a 9 per cent decline across the group as a whole. The ONS needs to fix its problems. It simply isn't good enough. As it is, the MPC is predicting a 'significant slowing' in wage settlements as a result of a looser jobs market, in which vacancies have been tumbling and unemployment rising: even though the MPC trotted out its usual line about taking a 'cautious' approach to cutting rates, while making clear that their path is not 'pre-determined', that is another hint that an August cut could be in the works. Immediate beneficiaries would be those looking to buy homes or remortgage their existing residences. Fixed-rated deals have risen recently because the markets reset their expectations of the pathway for rates. Another change in sentiment could improve deals again. Capital Economics, for one, thinks rates could fall to as low as 3.5 per cent, even with inflation not expected to move back towards the 2 per cent target until next year, with the current 3.4 per cent rate expected to peak at 37 per cent in September.
