A Jaguar XK

If Singur cannot have a factory for the Rs 1-lakh Nano, the city too will not have a showroom for the Rs 63 lakh-plus Jaguars and Land Rovers.

Calcutta is not on Tata Motors’s marketing radar as it plans to open showrooms for its premium British brands in six cities — Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ludhiana and Pune — next year.

“We are not looking at Calcutta. Not now, not in the near future,” said a Tata Motors spokesperson in Mumbai.

Though Calcutta does not figure even in the plans for 2011, a “sales team” will be sent to the city if a prospective customer contacts the company through the Jaguar Land Rover website.

“We will send the vehicles to Calcutta for the customers to check out and test drive before they decide to purchase,” added the spokesperson.

One reason the company might be giving Calcutta a miss is the premium price tag, said a source. The Jaguar models are priced between Rs 63 lakh and Rs 92 lakh. Land Rover’s range of all-terrain vehicles, including Land Rover Discovery 3, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover, will come for Rs 63 lakh to Rs 89 lakh.

However, the city has dealerships of Mercedes and BMW and will shortly have an Audi showroom. Despite the pocket pinch of Rs 25 lakh to over Rs 1 crore, the German premium brands are “doing well here, notching up significant sales”, said an industry insider.

For the Jaguar connoisseur, it really doesn’t matter. “It’s a pity the city won’t have a Jag showroom but it doesn’t make a difference to the Jag buyer. He can either import it from the UK or get it from Mumbai or Delhi,” said S.N. Roychoudhuri, who owns a number of vintage Jaguars.

Jaguar Land Rover entered India in June with the opening of a showroom in Mumbai.