Exclusive: Land Rover To Begin Assembling The Range Rover Velar In India

The Range Rover Velar will soon be locally made by Jaguar Land Rover India. Sources have shared with carandbike that the Tata Group company will begin local assembly of CKD kits (completely knocked down kits) at its plant outside Pune by January 2019. The luxury SUV is one of 4 Range Rover models and sits between the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport. Making the car locally will result in a likely reduction in its prices, while it will also mean the variant mix is likely to also be reduced. The car is currently available in a whopping 25 variants across petrol and diesel, with a wide variety of trim levels on offer. That will be reduced, and the First Edition variant is also likely to go off the market. Prices are expected to come down by approximately Rs. 10-14 lakh depending on variant and engine specification. This means the car is expected to then see the range begin at roughly Rs. 65-70 lakh ex-showroom. The Range Rover Velar currently starts at Rs. 83.34 lakh and tops off at Rs. 1.45 Crore.

Also Read: Land Rover Starts Local Assembly Of Range Rover Velar

The car is currently available in a whopping 25 variants across petrol and diesel.

We saw similar moves when the Jaguar F-Pace moved to local assembly too, with prices coming down. The F-Pace now starts at Rs 63.17 lakh, and its local production began in 2017. Prior to that, five other models from the JLR stable had moved to CKD operations. These are the Jaguar XJ in 2014, the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport in 2015, the Jaguar XE in 2016, and the new XF sedan stayed with CKD when it was introduced in 2017 too. The previous generation XF and Land Rover Freelander2 had also been built locally at Pune in the past. After the Range Rover Velar moves to being locally built, the next model expected to follow suit is the Land Rover Discovery. That is expected to happen around mid-2019. Its prices currently start at Rs. 74.95 lakh (ex-showroom) since it is a completely built-up (CBU) import only at this time. We have reached out to JLR India for a comment but are yet t receive a response on our query.

The F-Pace was the last model that went to local assembly and underwent a huge price reduction therefore.

Also Read: 2019 Jaguar F-Pace Petrol Launched In India; Priced At ₹ 63.17 Lakh

The Land Rover Velar in India is offered with a range of drivetrains. The petrol powered Range Rover Velar is powered by a 2.0-Litre Petrol motor that produces 248 bhp and 365 Nm of peak torque in the base P250 variant. In the top-end P300 petrol the same engine churns out 296 bhp and 400 Nm of peak torque.

The diesel Range Rover Velar is offered with two engine options. First is the 2.0 Litre Diesel engine that produces 178 bhp and 430 Nm of peak torque in the base D180 trim. Then is the top notch D300 variant which is powered by a 3.0 Litre Diesel motor that produces 296 bhp and a hefty 700 Nm of peak torque.