The Tata Motors-owned British luxury car marque, Jaguar Land Rover today expanded its product portfolio in the Indian market and introduced the Range Rover Velar, placing it between the entry-level Range Rover Evoque and the midsize Range Rover Sport. The Velar has been launched in three engine options, starting at a price of Rs 78.83 lakh (ex-showroom, India).

The Velar gets dollops of Range Rover’s family design language, with its foil-stamped grille upfront, and sleek LED headlamps. The side profile gives it a sense of bulk, with its pronounced haunches and 255-section tyres running on 19-inch wheels. It also gets flush sitting deployable door handles, which aid aerodynamics and reduce drag coefficient. The rear end culminates in wraparound LED tail lamps and the SUV also gets a panoramic sunroof.

On the inside, the Velar comes equipped with a 10-inch pop-out touch screen infotainment system, as well as touch controls for the air conditioning and the terrain response system. It also gets a 23-speaker Meridian sound system, a head-up-display and an interactive driver display as well.

The SUV comes powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol, a 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel and the range topping 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine options. The Velar gets an all-wheel-drive system, along with a host of traction control systems, including Land Rover's all terrain progress control (ATPC).

The Velar comes equipped with top safety kit, some of which includes six airbags, electronic parking brake, emergency brake assist, roll stability control and cornering brake control among others.

Jaguar Land Rover India, which currently operates through its 26 outlets in the country has seen a remarkable 2017, selling 3,954 units in the calendar year, with demand being brisk for some of its key models including the Jaguar XE, F-Pace, Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Evoque.

According to Rohit Suri, president and managing director, Jaguar Land Rover India, “JLR grew 49 percent YoY in 2017 and that signifies our efforts in the back-end on strengthening the brand in the Indian market. We are emphasizing a lot on aftersales support and our technicians are scaling heights when it comes to the level of workmanship in the entire Jaguar Land Rover network across the world.”

“Even though we have performed well, growth is somewhat restricted in the premium car segment on account of the high taxation on luxury cars under the GST. The segment has huge potential, but the tax structure, which puts luxury cars and SUVs at an effective 53 percent GST slab, is a big impediment to better growth.”

“We are consistently looking towards enhancing the local assembly of our models in the country, and volumes will continue to play a crucial role in any of our decisions in bringing more models through the locally assembled route in India.”