Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the British luxury car arm of Tata Motors, will begin assembling its premium vehicles at a new facility in Tamil Nadu by early 2026, senior executives said on Tuesday. The plant will assemble Range Rover Evoque and Velar SUVs from completely knocked down (CKD) kits, with a projected capacity of 30,000 units annually, as per ET.The move is part of a Rs 9,000 crore investment over five years and marks a strategic shift in JLR’s Indian manufacturing footprint. “This move gives us a scalable, future-ready base as JLR expands its portfolio in India,” said PB Balaji, the Group CFO of Tata Motors, as quoted by ET. He further noted that the Ranipet plant will eventually absorb JLR’s operations from Pune.The Tamil Nadu facility is also being positioned as a potential base for Tata’s premium electric vehicles (EVs) under the Avinya brand. However, Tata Motors has deferred Avinya’s launch to 2026 due to engineering hurdles. “Some blind spots emerged during execution, and the industrialisation process has taken longer than expected,” said Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, as cited by ET.Chandra clarified that Avinya will debut as a standalone premium EV brand without overt Tata branding, aimed at global markets. He also criticised state policies favouring hybrid vehicles over EVs, saying they “distort the market and delay EV adoption.”Meanwhile, JLR is facing global trade headwinds. With US import tariffs on vehicles from the UK rising to 27.5%, Tata Motors is not planning to set up a US manufacturing site in response. “We need to be careful that we don’t overextend ourselves,” Balaji said, ruling out reactive expansions, as per news agency PTI.JLR is also rerouting demand to regions less impacted by trade volatility, including the UK, Europe, and the Middle East. Additionally, Tata Motors is enhancing supply chain resilience, leveraging lessons from the 2022-23 semiconductor crisis.On rare earth exports from China, Chandra said Tata and JLR have sufficient inventory for the coming months and are exploring alternate sources. “We are comfortable for the next few months… and very hopeful given the government’s support on the topic,” he said, reported PTI.Despite the global challenges, Tata Motors confirmed its other EV launches like the Harrier.ev and Sierra.ev remain on schedule.