Tata Motors is on the verge of expanding production capabilities of its subsidiary brands including Jaguar Land Rover. The company recently announced that they will commence assembly operations of JLR vehicles (Jaguar Land Rover) at their Panapakkam facility near Chennai on February 9th, 2026.
While the company is yet to confirm which models will be assembled here, earlier reports and speculations suggest Land Rover Range Rover Evoque may be the first vehicle to be assembled at this new facility. Let’s take a closer look.
Tata Motors Chennai Plant
Currently, JLR vehicles (mostly Land Rovers) are being assembled at Tata’s Pune facility in Maharashtra state. These are brought into the country as CKD kits and are locally assembled at the Pune plant. These include (full size) Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar and Discovery Sport.
The move to commence assembly operations of JLR vehicles at their new Chennai plant is largely due to capacity constraints at their current facilities where an expansion is currently not possible. Tata Motors will initially only commence assembly operations at Chennai plant and strategies may change in the future.
Tata Motors announced the commencement of JLR vehicle assembly at Chennai plant during the company’s latest earnings call. Chennai plant at Panapakkam was announced in 2024 and will commence assembly operations in 2026. The company has invested up to Rs 9,000 Cr into the development of this facility.
Full Production?
Total annual capacity of this facility is said to be up to 2.5 lakh units per annum at full capacity. When fully ramped up, this facility could provide employment for up to 5,000 workers. For Indian market, 2.5 lakh luxury cars would be a stretch, but this capacity provides headroom for the brand to ramp up production for potential global exports.
Currently, BMW is the leader in the global luxury car sales as it surpassed Mercedes-Benz and Audi in sales in CY 2025. JLR’s volumes are much lower than that. Currently, Jaguar has ended its production of ICE vehicles globally, leaving Land Rover to do all the heavy lifting and generate volumes.
For Land Rover, Defender sub brand has done wonders in terms of sales and further bolstered Land Rover name among the off-road community. Currently, Defender lineup is imported in the country and could be one of the vehicles to be locally assembled at Chennai plant.
