Jaguar calls on Indian small engine experts

Car firm is negotiating with suppliers to boost the volume of its components

The first signs that Indian engineers are to play a greater role in the development of Jaguar Land Rover engines emerged last week as the Indian-owned luxury carmaker reported increased sales.

Jaguar Land Rover is negotiating with suppliers to boost the volume of components available. There has been a 60% increase in sales of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles for the last three months compared to the same period last year.

However, an adequate supply of engines was an issue, the company confirmed. Ford, Jaguar’s former owner, will supply engines to the company until 2015 as part of the deal agreed when Tata Motors bought Jaguar in 2008.

Carl-Peter Forster, Tata Motors chief executive, said he would like to engineer new Jaguar Land Rover engines in-house, combining the expertise of the group’s engineers in India and the UK.

Forster said Tata Motors’ Indian expertise in engineering small engines could prove helpful. Global demand for small engines, even in the luxury segment, was likely to grow as small engines become more powerful and fuel efficiency becomes more important, he said.

The move comes as Tata works to integrate its UK operations with its low-cost India base and Indian engineers help with the redesign of the Defender vehicle.

Forster said there were no plans to offshore full production of Jaguar Land Rover.