Jaguar Land Rover to develop co-branded models for China

Earlier this year, Jaguar Land Rover finalised their Joint Venture with the Chinese company, Chery Automobiles, to set-up a facility there for an investment of USD 2.78 billion. As a part of its plans the UK based luxury brands will also be developing new co-branded vehicles, specifically for the Chinese market. The decision has been taken in line with the new regulations that require foreign companies to create brand in the world’s largest automobile market.

“We will be creating a brand along with Chery for the Chinese market. We are awaiting regulatory approvals from the Chinese authorities but there has been a recent regulatory change and all JVs have to develop a brand for the domestic market,” JLR’s chief executive Ralf Speth told reporters, calling it ‘another step in the process’.

This development comes as an additional burden for the company, especially at the time when there are questions asked about fall in operating profit, despite the bumper profits reported by Tata Motors yesterday. However, we can also be sure that these products will be lot cheaper that the JLR models and that will certainly make them viable for India as well.

JLR has already started feasibility study to setup a plant in India to assemble vehicles and build smaller engines for the company. The new plant is expected to close to current facility new Pune that assembles Free Lander 2 or in Sanand Gujarat next to Nano facility. The Jaguar XF sedan will be the next model to be assembled here and bolstering operations in India and China will certainly increase operating profits margins in the long run.