British luxury car giant Jaguar Land Rover has announced they recently signed a multi-billion pound deal to open a new factory in China, making the country the largest car market in the world.
In 2005 China accounted for just 1% of total Jaguar sales and is now Jaguar Land Rover’s third largest market with an annual sales increase of 60% to 42,000 cars. Bosses at Jaguar say that their UK factories cannot build vehicles fast enough and the current capacity is ‘maxed out’. The company has three factories and several engineering and research facilities across the Midlands and the North West of England, selling vehicles to more than 170 countries.
Jaguar Land Rover has reached agreement with Chery Automobile Company Ltd, China’s sixth largest car maker, to build limousines, up market off roaders and sports cars at their Chinese factories. The deal will not only build Jaguar branded vehicles but new cars carrying a ‘joint venture’ badge, and a new research and engineering facility will be established.
JLR chief executive Dr Ralf Speth and Mr Yin Tongyao, chief executive officer of Chery, released a joint statement stating that the joint venture is an exciting prospect for both companies. Demands for Jaguar products continues to increase in China and they hope to leverage the respective strengths of both businesses to give Chinese consumers the most highly efficient products featuring the latest technologies. The companies are currently seeking regulatory approval for the 17.5 billion yen venture.
Earlier this month Jaguar announced that it was creating 1,000 new jobs at its Merseyside factory to cope with the demand for two new models of car.