Land Rover to be made-in-India

Land Rover will start manufacturing its cars in India by next year, according to Tata Motors' CEO Carl-Peter Forster.

Forster has revealed that the firm was also in talks with a joint-venture partner in China over producing certain Jaguar and Land Rover models there. No details on what Land Rovers will be made in India have been revealed at this stage, but one option could be production of the firm’s T5 platform that underpins the Discovery 4 and Range Rover Sport models.

This platform is set to live on in 2012 for use on Project Icon, the Defender’s replacement. Elsewhere, Tata Motors' share price rose earlier to its highest level in 19 years after it posted a profit for the first fiscal year quarter to the end of June. The profit was 5.9 per cent up year-on-year, causing an increase in Tata’s share price to a high last seen in January 1991.

Profits were boosted by strong demand for Jaguar and Land Rover products. JLR sales were up in the quarter to 57,153 units compared with 35,947 a year earlier.