Jaguar Land Rover China plant to roll out new cars in Q4

The joint venture between British premium car maker Jaguar Land Rover and Chinese firm Chery Inc is expected to roll out its first batch of domestically produced cars in the fourth quarter of this year, the president of the joint venture said Thursday.

The plant, located in Changshu, East China's Jiangsu Province, will have an annual production capacity of around 130,000 vehicles. Total investment in the joint venture amounts to 1.09 billion yuan ($1.75 billion).

This is the first time that the British brand has fully manufactured vehicles outside the UK.

The plant will produce both Land Rover and Jaguar-branded vehicles, as well as joint venture-branded vehicles, Chris Bryant, president of Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Co, said at a press briefing Thursday.

The Changshu plant includes engine production facilities, which has prompted speculation that domestically produced vehicles may use Chery branded engines.

Bryant did not deny or confirm the speculation, simply saying "what's important is we give the customers what the customers expect." He also noted that the company will use the same dealers for its domestically produced cars and imported ones.

Besides production facilities, the plant in Changshu will also shoulder some research functions, and new-energy technology will be one of the focuses, Bryant said.

Jaguar Land Rover reported total sales of 95,237 units in China in 2013, up 30 percent year-on-year, making China the largest market for the company.

In the first two months of this year, the company sold 18,625 units in China, up 40.7 percent compared with the same period last year.

Experts expect prices of Jaguar Land Rover cars to drop after the localization and that the company's sales volume in China will also increase significantly.

"It is certain that Jaguar Land Rover will outperform the overall premium market this year," Zhu Bin, an analyst at Shanghai-based consultancy LMC Automotive, told the Global Times Thursday.

Zhu noted that the premium car market is expected to grow by around 23 percent in 2014, and the SUV sector especially will remain robust. China's SUV sector grew by over 49 percent in 2013, and Zhu said strong growth in the sector will be maintained for at least three years.

China's premium auto market has long been dominated by the three German brands - Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. But with rising competition, the premium market will be increasingly "diversified," said Zhu.

Nissan Motor will bring the production of its premium brand Infiniti to China, and the first batch is expected to hit the market in 2018.

General Motor's Cadillac is also building a production plant in Shanghai.