Jaguar Land Rover India has started assembling its popular Defender 110 in the country, bringing the prices of the hugely popular SUV down significantly to ₹99 lakh (ex-showroom) onwards. The deliveries for the locally-assembled Defender will begin on November 15, according to the announcement from the brand.
Assembled, not built from scratch
Until now, every Defender sold here was imported fully built from Slovakia. The new cars come as completely knocked down (CKD) kits, which attract lower import duty than fully built cars. Neither the India-UK nor the India-EU trade deal helps, since the Defender is built in Slovakia by a British brand, leaving local assembly as the route to a meaningful cut. Since its launch years earlier, it is the first time the Defender is being assembled in India, on a line set up exclusively for Indian buyers. Select versions of the Range Rover, Sport, Velar, Evoque and Discovery Sport are already assembled locally, which had cut prices of the Range Rover and Sport by up to Rs 56 lakh.
The change covers only the Defender 110 in its entry X-Dynamic HSE trim. The 90, 130 and Octa remain imports, which are anyway sold in low volumes so will continue to be completely built imports (CBU) for now.
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Three engines, one trim
All three engines are mild-hybrids with an eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. The Defender 110 comes with a 2.0-litre petrol which makes 296bhp of power and 400Nm torque, there is a 3.0-litre petrol engine (P400) that creates 394bhp power and 550Nm torque, and finally the 3.0-litre diesel engine (D350) that produces 346bhp and 700Nm torque.
Top-end 3.0L Variant is 34 Lakh Cheaper!
The biggest price cut on the Land Rover Defender 110 is about ₹34 lakh. This is for both the 3.0L petrol and the 3.0L diesel variants, both coming down from ₹1.52 crore to ₹1.18 crore. The 2.0L petrol variant is now worth ₹99 lakh onwards, making it about ₹14 lakh cheaper from the previous starting price of ₹1.13 crore.
The Land Rover Defender 110 is the five-door version of Land Rover’s rugged off-roader, built on a monocoque body and runs on air suspension with all-wheel drive, which lets it handle serious off-road terrain. In terms of features, you get a Pivi Pro touchscreen with connected features, a configurable digital driver’s display, a panoramic sunroof, a 360-degree camera, and heated and ventilated seats with memory function. Safety includes Level 2-ADAS, roll stability control, hill descent control and wade sensing. The Defender 110 is also practical, with a long 3,022mm wheelbase and a 397-litre boot, and it carries a 5-star Euro NCAP rating.
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Why it matters
The Defender was JLR India’s best-selling model in FY2026. The Defender, Range Rover and Sport together made up more than 80 percent of the company’s sales, according to latest sales data. The Defender itself has sold over 9,000 units in India since its launch almost six years ago.
Competitors to the Defender in India are the Mercedes-Benz GLE and GLS, BMW X5 and X7 and Audi Q7 and Q8. The localisation of assembly will also give JLR an advantage in terms of cutting down waiting periods on their cars. At Rs 1.18 crore, the six-cylinder Defender 110 now undercuts the X7’s starting price of Rs 1.26 crore.
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