China’s hard landing and an overall feeble economic recovery globally has impacted all sectors and auto is no exception. In an interview to Bloomberg TV India, JLR CEO Ralf Speth says there is huge space in China as the company sells some 100,000 cars, which is a fraction of the 24-million cars sold in China. JLR is also ready to take the challenge of rolling out BS-VI cars in India, he said.

How has the Chinese slowdown impacted JLR? Do you see signs of demand recovering there?

China will come back. The GDP growth is very encouraging. So, we can be partially optimistic that China is coming back.

How do you cope up with the present volatile environment and how would you derisk yourself from markets like China?

At the end of the day, we have to say we are nicely balanced. So, for instance, Jaguar Land Rover Europe is the biggest market and only continental Europe. We see that China is coming back. It is the biggest market in the automotive world — it is round about 24 million vehicles per year. Jaguar Land Rover is just selling some 100,000 cars. That means there is such a huge space. And with the new cars we are introducing in the market like the new Jaguar XE, for instance, I am quite sure that we will really conquer new customers.

Talking about the new launches, what are your plans over the next few years? There is a lot of R&D cost that you have been pumping in Land Rover Jaguar and that is something that you have enhanced over a period of time. What are the plans at this stage on investment in technology?

At this launch, we are already introducing six new cars for India, which shows our commitment for India. It also shows that we are investing and we are going to invest over-proportionally in technology.

We are looking at the infotainment system, shaft system and the new materials we are using are also imported.

It is a very interesting smart package that we are offering to our customers.

There are reports that you are looking at $3 billion investment in India. Is that the number you are working on?

I guess we are looking at a little bit higher. But we are clear it is not an important issue for the customer. The customer should be sure that we really go for not just the upmost technology in performance and in environmental issue, but also in the cost of ownership and the usage of material. And we are taking care of the recycling. So, we have a complete closed loop process.

Have the downsizing of engines helped and is it working well in other markets?

As of now, we have built a totally new engine factory in the UK and we are launching our Ingenium engines, which have more efficiency and performance and are environmental-friendly. And that helps a lot. So, we are bringing our latest technology of engines.

The Indian auto market is going through a transformation, the way safety and environment issues have come up after the government taking it as a matter of priority. How do you see these developments impacting auto makers?

I think it is very important. Safety is a paramount. Jaguar XE is nominated by Europe NCAP Europe and we gained 5-star award for being the safest family car in the market at the moment.

What’s your view on India’s advancement of BS-VI norms to 2020 and skipping of BS-V completely? Do you think it is a tall task to meet?

It is not really that challenging a task because we have got this kind of technology already into France. And I think it is quite important that at the end of the day, in terms of air quality and other things, we have really achieved the latest technology in the cars for the environment issues.

comment COMMENT NOW