Auto Car reported that Mr Carl Peter Forster new boss of Jaguar Land Rover has emerged from 100 days of silence to reveal plans for a major product shake up.

The radical vision includes greater separation for the Land Rover and Range Rover brands, the launch of an all new, mid size Range Rover between LRX and Range Rover Sport, a potential for the TATA Group to manufacture own brand diesel and petrol engines to be shared with JLR, and the opening of a plant in China to assemble around 20,000 Freelander based models per year by 2014.

Mr Forster, the ex GM Europe chief who became TATA Motors group CEO in February 2010, was accompanied by Dr Ralph Speth, the ex Ford executive who joined JLR as CEO at the same time.

Speaking a day after TATA Group announced a 40% profit jump that included a modest return to profitability for Jaguar and Land Rover, the pair said that their future strategy was step by step expansion, not at the expense of profits, that will add new models, new engines and new derivatives to our three ranges, Jaguar, Range Rover and Land Rover.

Mr Forster said that newly profitable JLR has shelved plans to close one of its three UK manufacturing plans are incorrect. Under present plans either Solihull or Castle Bromwich will close around the middle of this decade but no further decision about which would be saved is likely to come before the end of a product review. He added that the entrepreneurial spirit of his TATA led group, which he said is creating a new culture at Gaydon.

He confirmed that Jaguar was investigating the business case for a small Jaguar saloon, and was proceeding quickly with the new, sub XK Jaguar roadster, and a plan dear to the heart of group chairman Ratan TATA. He added that "We are looking at clay models now and we are all pretty keen on what we see."

(Sourced from www.autocar.co.uk)