Peter T. Leach, Senior Editor | Mar 21, 2012 1:12PM EDT
Jaguar Land Rover, a unit of India’s Tata Motors, is forming a joint venture with Chery Automobile of China to manufacture the U.K.-based automaker's luxury vehicles in China.
Both companies will hold an equal stake in the joint venture, which will also make co-branded vehicles, according to a statement Wednesday on the Jaguar Land Rover website.
The joint venture company will set up a research and development facility and a plant to manufacture engines, and it will look after vehicle sales as well.
"The terms and conditions of the commercial agreement are not being disclosed at this time and ... no further details are available," the statement said. The companies will now follow the official process to establish a joint venture company in China.
China is now JLR's third largest market and is still growing. Its annual sales in 2011 increased by 60 percent to 42,000 units.
In 2005, sales in China accounted for 1 percent of combined Jaguar and Land Rover sales.
Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @petertleach.
