Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd will combine a globally developed electric-vehicle platform with Indian design, vehicle integration and manufacturing for the first model under its premium Avinya brand, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shailesh Chandra said.
The first Avinya product will use an architecture selected through collaboration involving Jaguar Land Rover and its Chinese joint venture, Chery Jaguar Land Rover, or CJLR. Tata Motors will draw on partner technologies and components that have already achieved scale and maturity, while retaining control over key parts of the vehicle-development programme.
“The design is going to be completely in our control. Manufacturing is going to be with us,” Chandra said at a media interaction on the sidelines of the Sierra EV launch. “There are certain things we have to do ourselves. There is integration work that we will work on our side.”
Chandra said Tata Motors and JLR had evaluated multiple electric architectures when considering different vehicles on a common platform. The company selected the Freelander-linked architecture from the CJLR ecosystem for the first Avinya model.
The approach will allow Tata Motors to use proven systems that meet the technology, quality and reliability requirements of the premium segment while adapting the vehicle to Indian roads, climatic conditions and customer preferences.
“It is the best-of-the-best that we are combining to ensure that when we come into a premium segment, we come with the best technology stack that is needed in the premium segment,” Chandra said. “At the same time, we will ensure that it is tailor-made to what India requires.”
Future models could use different platforms
The platform arrangement for the first model will not necessarily be followed across the entire Avinya range.
Chandra said future products could use Tata Motors’ own architecture, a collaborative platform or another shared architecture available within the passenger-vehicle businesses of the Tata Motors Group.
“For future products, it can be this, it can be different. It can be ours, it can be collaborative,” he said.
The proportion of technology developed in India and sourced from group partners will evolve as Tata Motors builds further capability in premium electric vehicles, he added.
Avinya has been conceived as a distinct premium electric brand, separate from Tata Motors’ mainstream passenger-vehicle and Tata.ev portfolios. The programme is expected to push the company into a price and customer segment currently served largely by established European luxury brands and a growing number of global electric-vehicle makers.
The first production model, expected towards the end of 2026, is likely to be the Avinya X. It is expected to be manufactured at the new Tata Motors-JLR facility in Panapakkam, Tamil Nadu.
The opening products are expected to enter the premium electric-vehicle market, where buyers place greater importance on cabin refinement, ride quality, software reliability, materials, charging performance and the overall ownership experience.
Deeper operational partnership with JLR
Avinya represents a deeper form of collaboration between Tata Motors and JLR than earlier Indian products.
The Harrier and Safari use an architecture derived from Land Rover’s D8 platform. In those cases, Tata Motors adapted a luxury-derived base for mainstream Indian sport utility vehicles.
Avinya starts with a born-electric premium brief. The collaboration is expected to cover not only the basic vehicle architecture, but also electrical and electronic systems, software, battery integration, validation processes and premium product-development practices.
Tata Motors had initially signed a licensing agreement to use JLR’s Electrified Modular Architecture for the Avinya programme. The roadmap was later revised as the company evaluated platform timelines, costs and speed to market.
The first model will now use an architecture from the CJLR ecosystem, keeping Avinya connected to JLR’s wider electric-vehicle technology base while allowing Tata Motors to improve cost competitiveness.
The programme seeks to combine JLR’s experience in premium product development with Tata Motors’ strengths in localisation, supplier management, cost engineering and large-scale manufacturing in India.
It will also test whether Tata Motors can transfer premium engineering and quality practices into a brand developed for Indian and, eventually, overseas customers.