Jaguar has lots of new product coming and some of those models - perhaps the production version of the C-X75 - could be assembled at a new plant in China.
Jaguar and its truckmaking partner Land Rover have agreed to set up a plant in China, currently the world’s fastest-growing luxury auto market.
As with other foreign makers, Jaguar Land Rover will enter into a joint venture with one of the many local Chinese automotive companies. While JLR’s parent, the Indian Tata Motors, has declined to reveal who the partner is the luxury maker was known to be talking to China’s ambitious Chery Automobile as recently as last autumn.
Jaguar has been struggling to plant itself into the luxury mainstream despite adding a number of new models to the line-up, such as the totally redesigned XJ sedan, the flagship model debuting in late 2010. Land Rover has had a bit better luck with offerings such as the all-new Evoq – which was named North American Truck of the Year in January.
But both brands are betting they can gain a leg up by going local in China, circumventing stiff duties on imported automotive products.
Specific details are being withheld until China’s regulators give the proposed deal their blessing, said Tata Motors’ chief financial officer C Ramakrishnan.
In January, JLR CEO Ralf Speth said the company may spend as much as $200 million on a new Chinese plant. As major plants can press upwards of $500 million to $1 billion, that would suggest parent Tata is hoping to either receive a significant investment from its new partner or perhaps even make use of an existing Chinese facility, sources suggested.
Jaguar Land Rover has been considering a number of production options beyond the two assembly plants it now operates in the U.K. A factory in Pune, India opened last year and is assembling the small Land Rover Freelander.
A plant in the United States, the world’s largest luxury market, has been on the table for a number of years but it does not appear likely the automaker will move on that proposal anytime soon. But it is also considering a facility in Brazil that could serve the Latin American market and perhaps even ship some products to North America.
According to Tata CFO Ramakrishnan, the Indian parent is looking to double its investment in its British brands to perhaps $3 billion this year. That would, if anything, be barely enough to keep up with the ambitious product plans for JLR.
In an interview with TheDetroitBureau.com last year, Jaguar Global Brand Director Adrian Hallmark revealed that the two marques were moving forward on an astounding 41 different programs. Some, such as the production version of the C-X75 concept vehicle, are will result in all-new cars, trucks and crossovers. Other projects will unleash all-new powertrains designed to enhance performance, customer satisfaction and to meet increasingly stringent fuel economy and emissions mandates.
While the Jaguar brand wants to dip below its current range with an entry-luxury model to take on the likes of BMW, “We can also (extend) above where we are now,” he revealed.
At one point, when JLR was owned by Ford Motor Co., former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser laid out plans to push Jaguar sales to 200,000 a year and beyond. Today, however, it is barely at the 50,000 mark. The product offensive could transform the maker from a niche player to something more on a par with its German rivals, though “We won’t be selling 1 million Jaguars a year,” Hallmark cautioned.
“But we want to sell big multiples” of the current numbers, Hallmark added, “a lot more than today.”