Tata Motors and Jaguar-Land Rover to jointly develop two new global SUVs

The board of Tata Motors has reportedly given the green signal to the company to develop two new global SUVs with assistance from its subsidiary, Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR). Aimed specifically at Southeast Asian and the Middle East markets, the two SUVs are expected to go on sale in 2017 in the Rs 16 lakh to Rs 25 lakh price bracket.

Until, now, JLR has assisted Tata mainly with its technologies in process management and other production aspects of car manufacturing. For the two new SUVs however, reports say that JLR will play a major role in their development as well. Internally called Q501 and Q502, the five-seater and the seven-seater SUVs will be based on platforms shared between Land Rover and Tata. They might also take advantage of JLR's new Ingenium family of engines, which should also contribute in saving development and production costs. 

While this project has been in the pipeline for quite some time now, the cost factor had stopped Tata from going ahead with the plan. Now, the Mumbai-based manufacturer seems to have worked out a plan which has won the approval of its board members. 

While the company is going through a major makeover in India, the company is still in growing in other global markets. Though Tata is well known for its rugged utilitarian vehicles, the two new SUVs will be responsible for building Tata’s image as a premium car manufacturer in the foreign markets. Tata will aim to sell 80,000 units of the two SUVs every year in the Indian as well as other global markets. 

Source: Mint