Great Wall confirms contact with Jaguar Land Rover

“On February 14th, Jaguar Land Rover executives did visit the Great Wall Motor Factory. However, the cooperation between the two parties is still variable.” A few days ago, Great Wall Motor executives confirmed to China Business News that Jaguar Land Rover and its joint venture are conducting cooperation. contact.

The Jaguar Land Rover that failed to catch the first round of joint ventures with Chinese auto companies and missed the market's "dividend" has an urgent need to settle in China. Since last year, it has actively engaged in joint venture negotiations with local state-owned auto companies and local governments in China to find the best way to enter the Chinese market.

Last week, Jaguar Land Rover executives visited the Great Wall Motor Factory. The latter has also become an object of scandal for domestic Jaguar Land Rover projects after Jiangling, Chery, Changan, Geely and other car companies.

As early as last May, the news that Jaguar Land Rover wanted to hold hands with Chinese auto companies surfaced. According to foreign media reports, the company’s executives stated that Jaguar Land Rover plans to invest 100 million pounds in China to build a new factory with an annual output of 50,000 cars. Once a suitable partner is found in China, the 100 million pound project will start immediately. The new plant will house 5,000 workers, and it expects to export 150,000 cars in the first three years.

Afterwards, the market spread news of Jiangling Motors, Geely, Changfeng, and Chery Automobiles and Jaguar Land Rover, and even media reports that Chery has developed a comprehensive and in-depth joint venture and cooperation program with Jaguar Land Rover, involving domestic and autonomous R & D and independent brand redevelopment and many other aspects.

However, Chery's concept seems to be out of step with Jaguar Land Rover. According to Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, the Indian Tata Group’s plan, in order to ensure the “original” of the two luxury car brands, Tata will first find a partner in China, and the auto parts of Land Rover and Jaguar will be Made in the UK and then assembled in China.

After no substantive cooperation with Chery, Jaguar Land Rover executives once again set their sights on Great Wall Motor, the top-ranking SUV manufacturer in China.

Great Wall Motors, headquartered in Baoding, Hebei Province, signed a “Great Wall Motor Tianjin 300,000 passenger car project” with Tianjin Municipal Government last year. The new plant with an annual capacity of 300,000 will produce passenger cars such as B-Class sedans and high-end SUVs. The factory went into production in 2015. From the hardware point of view, the Great Wall has Land Rover domestic conditions.

In addition, over the years, Great Wall Motor's SUV products have always been in the first camp in the Chinese market and have a better understanding of the Chinese SUV market. According to the Great Wall Motor executives, “Great Wall Motors is currently focusing on developing independent independent brands, and does not rule out joint ventures with foreign companies. However, Great Wall Motor has always insisted on joint development with foreign partners on the basis of having independent intellectual property rights. Joint production, this is the joint venture bottom line."

In an increasingly competitive environment, especially when joint ventures have launched their own brands, as a private company, Great Wall Motor’s thirst for advanced technology is particularly strong. From the product lineage of Great Wall Motors, it can be seen that the Great Wall SUV products are mainly based on the low end of more than 100,000 yuan. If they are joint ventures with Jaguar Land Rover, they can use advanced technology to enhance their brand influence and corporate strength.

However, if Tata only hopes to harness the production capacity of Great Wall Motors to manufacture parts and components for Jaguar and Land Rover, then the original intention of cooperation with Great Wall is also very different.

Yesterday, our reporter learned from Jaguar Land Rover (China) Co., Ltd. about the joint venture. It was learned that Tata did have the intention of localizing the Land Rover brand. However, it is negotiating with a number of companies and there is no detailed schedule.

In fact, according to the general laws of the automobile industry, the annual sales volume of 30,000 vehicles is the threshold for multinational automobile companies to conduct local production in China. According to the latest data from Land Rover, Land Rover's sales in China doubled to 23,500 units in 2010. China has become the third largest market after the United Kingdom and the United States, and there is no major risk in China.

Moreover, the luxury car market in China coincides with the blowout period. Jaguar Land Rover, as a luxury car brand in the UK, has a strong cultural heritage. After being made domestically, Jaguar Land Rover, whose selling price has fallen back to the popular level, is highly hopeful to expand the brand from the niche brand to the highest volume.

The most critical issue at present is how to cooperate with Chinese auto companies. The increasingly stringent policy restrictions may also bring greater policy risks to outsiders who later enter the luxury car market in China.