The National Development and Reform Commission has given go-ahead to Chery and Jaguar Land Rover’s plan to create a vehicle manufacturing venture in China, according to The Economic Observer. An unnamed source at Chery said that the company had received the official reply approving the JV proposal, which, though, had yet to appear on government websites.
In March this year, Chery and JLR announced that they had reached agreement on establishing a 50:50 joint venture in China. More than just an assembly plant, they planned a R&D center, vehicle as well as engine plant, and sales company.
The Chery-JLR vehicle plant, to break ground soon, will be located in Changshu Economic Development Zone, next to the Qoros Auto’ construction site. According to the city of Changshu, the plant will create a production capacity of 130,000 vehicles a year on a land of 83.13 hectares; planned investment amounts to 12,095,330,000 Yuan. Production is expected to begin in July 2014.
We previously learned that Chery-JLR’s product line would include at least four models: Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque, a Jaguar car, and a car bearing an all-new brand to be launched especially for the local market.
By early September, JLR sales in China rose 90% from a year earlier to over 47,000 so far this year.
