66 Years After The Raj, Jaguar Builds In India

11 years, 10 months ago - 29 January 2013, The truth about cars

If there’s a better symbol of how much the world has changed since the fall of the British Empire than an Indian-made Jaguar, built by Tata, then I haven’t seen it.

Although Tata imports the Jaguar XF from the UK, their Jaguar Land Rover facility in Pune, India, will build a local version from CKD kits. “Petrol-hipsters”, take note; this one has Jaguar’s 2.2L four-cylinder diesel and will feature all the usual luxury car features, like a backup camera, sunroof and navigation, as well as the all-important TV tuner, something we’re not privy to in North America.

The new XF, which starts at roughly $83,000, is JLR’s best-selling model in India, alongside the Land Rover LR2. While perhaps not as prolific as Chai and curry are in the UK, JLR’s sales in India were up 32 percent last year – though that still only equates to just under 2400 cars per year.