Chinese Government Green Lights Chery-JLR Joint Venture

China’s National Development and Reform Commission approved the joint venture in just seven months after it was announced by the car manufacturers. Usually the approval takes about a year but JLR said that Chery’s knowledge in the approval procedures has helped in securing the approval quickly.

The joint venture which is valued at $ 1.89 billion will include setting up a research and development center and a manufacturing unit at Changshu in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. The facilities are expected to begin functioning in 2014.

The Chery-JLR joint venture will build 1.3 lakh units per year, most of which will comprise of Land Rover and Jaguar cars, but there is also a possiblity of some co-branded cars being designed and produced.  JLR has sold 53,000 cars in China in the past 9 months which is an 80% growth compared to the same period last year.

Tata Motors announced plans to double their investment in JLR, taking the annual investment to £1.5 billion. The firm expects that the lion’s share of global sales will come from China