TATA Motor owned Jaguar Land Rover plans to invest about GBP 7.5 billion (INR 54,000 crore) at least in the next five years, mainly on product development as it looks to catch up with global luxury car makers and position itself as a top premium brand.

Mr Ralf Speth CEO of Jaguar Land Rover told PTI that "JLR is in the catch-up stage and we are going to do whatever we can to position ourselves in the top premium brand.”

When asked what kind of investments the company has lined up in order to scale up its overall business, he said the company plans to invest 1.5 billion pounds every year globally.

On how long the investment will continue, Mr Speth said there is no definite time frame but it could be for a minimum of five years.

Stating that there is a lot of room for improvement, especially in its product line up, he said the investments will mainly go into product development.

Already the firm has announced that Land Rover's much- talked about sports utility vehicle 'Range Rover Evoque' will hit the roads in September, 2011, with a starting price of GBP 27,955 pounds (INR 2 million) in the UK .

Commenting on the Indian operations, he said that "We are looking forward strongly. Last month itself, we sold 74 cars in one month, which is a very very good performance."

(Sourced from PTI)