India gets the Cat

Jaguar’s “Leaping Cat” hood ornament is one of the automotive world’s most recognised symbols and two years after buying into Jaguar-Land Rover, Tata Motors is bringing the “cats” into India. However, you will not find a Jaguar XJ standing next to a Tata Nano, as the British vehicles will be distributed through a chain of exclusive showrooms managed by Tata Motors. Already several Taj Hotels properties have switched to Jaguars as their executive limousines, since Tata Motors officials felt it would give the cars some visibility.

So, which cars will be sold in India? Nothing has been revealed yet, but most likely the entire range could be on offer. The slightly dated Jaguar X will compete with the BMW 3-series, Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4 and would be priced similarly at around Rs 25-30 lakh while the Jaguar XF will compete with the BMW 5-series, Merc E-Class and Audi A6 at the Rs 45-60 lakh bracket. Jaguar also recently announced (at the Shanghai Auto show) that they would be updating their top-of-the line XJ that faces off against the BMW 7-series, Merc S-Class and Audi A8 in the Rs 80 lakh-1 crore bracket. The first launches are scheduled for June 2009, though the outlets across India are expected to start selling the cars only by the end-2010.

—Kushan Mitra