Prices of Range Rover Evoque were slashed by up to INR 20 lakhs after the car entered local assembly in India. With the current starting price of INR 48.73 lakhs (ex-showroom), demand for Evoque has raised sharply. Speaking about the premium compact SUV’s growth rate in India, Rohit Suri, President, JLR India, stated that the demand for locally assembled version is at least 30% more than what the company anticipated and this has resulted in a huge demand-supply gap.
Discontinuation of brisk selling Freelander 2 in order to make way for upcoming Discovery Sport has resulted in JLR India’s sales registering a negative growth in 2014, first time since its entry into the market. JLR India managed to dispatch 2,700 units in 2014 (down by 7.3% compared to 2013). The figures are nowhere near its competitors Audi, Mercedes and BMW. Audi and Mercedes managed to breach 10,000 unit mark in the country for the first time last year.
JLR product portfolio currently has a starting price of around INR 50 lakhs while its rivals have their range starting at around INR 25 lakhs. Mr. Suri says that once the Discovery Sport and Jaguar XE are launched in India with lower price ranges, the pace of growth will be much higher.
It’s only a matter of time before CKD kits of facelifted model is shipped to India.Hopefully the company will plug the demand-supply gap of Range Rover Evoque before adding new models to its CKD lineup.
Via – Livemint.com
