Tata Motors talks to China’s Chery Auto for JLR manufacturing JV
21 Aug 2010
Tata Motors is said to have initiated talks with China's Chery Automobiles for manufacturing and distributing Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) cars in China.
According to various Chinese media reports, Tata Motors has started negotiating with Chery for jointly producing JLR range of cars.
The Indian car maker is reportedly looking at first assembling Land Rover models with Chery and later for a joint production of both the Jaguar and Land Rover models.
Christopher Brown, the executive vice president of JLR China said in a recent interview with China's Daily Economic News, ''Jaguar Land Rover Sales Corporation in China is the platform for its future business development in China.''
The paper also hinted that Tata Motors' likely partner in China would be state-owned car producer Chery, based in China's eastern Anhui Province, and both companies have started ''secret discussions.''
However, a spokesman for Chery did not deny media reports but said that he cannot make any public comments on this news for the time being, reported the paper.
Carl-Peter Forster, the new group CEO of Tata Motors, had said in a May 2010 interview to the BBC, "We will need to manufacture at least two models in China, we'll take one to two years to set it up, but first we will need a partner." (See: JLR to open assembly plant in China)