Tata Motors and JLR have a lot riding on the 71-year old iconic Defender that is set for a comeback in 2020

• The Defender which had been running for 67 years, went off the roads in 2016.
• This is good news for Tata Motors which has been of the worst affected from the Indian auto slowdown and has been downgraded continuously by rating agencies.
• The Defender will also re-enter the US market, where it was last sold in 1987.

The Land Rover Defender is set to make a grand comeback in 2020 predicting good times for Tata Motors. One of the most successful off-road vehicles from the JLR family, Defender’s retail sales will start from Spring 2020.

The Defender which had been running for 67 years, went off the roads in 2016 as it couldn’t meet the stricter US car emissions of 2020. The Defender will also re-enter the US market, where it was last sold in 1987. But now the car is coming back in a new avatar and has also found a role in the upcoming James Bond movie No Time to Die.

In India, the car will be available for commercial sales from June 2020. Land Rover is also reportedly working on a smaller and affordable version of the Defender which will hit the markets in 2021.

“We raise our volume forecasts for JLR by 1% and 3% for FY20 and FY21 respectively as we factor in better volume outlook for the Defender — we estimate 50k units in FY21 vs. the previous high of c.22k units in FY16,” said a Goldman Sachs report.

This is good news for Tata Motors which has been downgraded continuously by ratings agencies due to the declining fortunes of its UK-owned subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover.

At home, the sharp economic slowdown has hit car sales severely. In November, Tata Motors sales fell by 29% on a year-on-year basis and it was xxth month of fall in car sales for the company.

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