Jaguar obtains approval to set up first joint venture in China

Jaguar Land Rover PLC, Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Automobile, are forming a joint venture in China for the production of passenger vehicles. The venture, Jaguar’s first in China, has been approved by the Chinese government.
The project is expected to produce 130,000 passenger vehicles and 130,000 engines annually. Total investment in the joint venture could reach as much as RMB12 billion (US$1.92 billion). Production is scheduled to begin in July 2014. Part of the plan is the eventual production of Land Rover sport utility vehicles, Jaguar sedans and Chery-branded cars, as well as Jaguar’s 3.0 liter V6 turbo engines and Chery’s 2.0 and 1.6 liter turbo gasoline direct injection (TGDI) engines in Changshu, Jiangsu province.
Jaguar, a unit of India’s Tata Motors Ltd., has 141 authorized dealers in the Chinese mainland. Of these, 96 are already operational.
Analysts believe that this would probably be the last joint venture approved by the Chinese government for the auto industry for now. Officials of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the restructuring plans of the government do not call for approving new vehicle production projects at this time. (November 1, 2012)