Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is a British multinational automotive company that has its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry. The company is a subsidiary to Indian automobile manufacturing company TATA Motors.
The company recently came forward with strong criticism of the ban that was placed on high-end diesel car sales in New Delhi, India. In its statement, the company claimed that the air emitted by their vehicles is comparatively cleaner than the air that goes into the vehicle when it is being driven.
The company cited the example of their car Hoover, stating that the air sucked in by the car is much filthier than what is emitted by it when it is being driven. The apex court passed an order last year which put a ban on registration of cars and SUVs above 2000cc that run on diesel till March 31. The ban was prevalent over the entire National Capital Region.
JLR was one of the companies that found themselves in the line of fire as a result of the ban. Ralph Speth, the CEO of the TATA motors owned company stated that a ban on vehicles like the Hoover was beyond his understanding. He further added that putting a ban on such vehicles is not the right solution for curbing pollution.
According to him the government should take effective steps towards banning older cars that cause a lot of pollution and should also try to reduce pollution from other sources apart from vehicles.
The company is trying to get past the ban by introducing more petrol variants of its vehicles in the market. The Jaguar XJ and the Jaguar XE are two models of which the company has already rolled out petrol variants.
In other news, the British car manufacturing company recently acknowledged TATA Motor’s contribution towards its immense success. The company was purchased by TATA Motors from Ford Motor back in 2008. TATA Motors had acquired JLR for $2.3 billion and at that time, many experts claimed that it was not one of TATA Motors’ best decisions.
Statistics state that they were wrong as it can be seen that the company has grown immensely under TATA Motors. At the present moment sales of JLR automobiles account for over 80 % of total sales of TATA Motors.
JLR has presently become the biggest carmaker in Britain, overtaking Nissan in the process. The previous year turned out to be great for the company as it went on the record the highest units sold on a global basis in a year in 2015.
Its units sold figures sported a 5% rise when compared to that of 2014. The 5 % increase accounts to 487,065 more vehicles that the company sold in 2015 compared to 2014.
At the Auto Expo 2016 which was recently held at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh in India, Ralph Speth announced that JLR has been deemed the best place to work in Britain by Bloomberg. He then went on to express his gratitude for TATA Motors for its constant support.
He stated that JLR would not have been successful without the significant contributions of its parent company, TATA Motors. He further added that on behalf of JLR he would like to thank both ex-chairman of TATA Mr. Ratan Tata and current chairman Cyrus Mistry for the company’s constant support and contribution.
Jaguar Land Rover recently unveiled their latest luxury car, the Jaguar XE sports saloon. The car comes with the price tags of Rs. 39.9 lakh and Rs. 46.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The car was launched by renowned Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif at the Auto Expo 2016.
Ralph Speth stated that the car will be assembled in India itself and the company is taking this step to improve its localization. He added that JLR has built five cars in India on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of its plant in Pimpri. The Jaguar XE will be the latest addition to the list of vehicles that are currently being assembled in India.