Land Rover to build Discovery Sport in China
LONDON -- Jaguar Land Rover will build the Discovery Sport midsize SUV as a second model in its new Chinese assembly plant.
The U.K. luxury automaker opened the factory Tuesday with the Range Rover Evoque as its first production model.
Land Rover's director of programs, Murray Dietsch, said the Evoque and Discovery Sport both will be produced in the factory, which is in Changshu, northeast of Shanghai.
Dietsch was speaking at a ceremony to mark the start of Discovery Sport production at JLR's factory in Halewood near Liverpool, England. The Discovery Sport is based on the Evoque and is built on the same line as the Evoque at Halewood.
Dietsch gave no date for the start of Chinese production of the Discovery Sport and said the car initially will be imported into China.
Jaguar Land Rover built the Changshu plant with its joint venture partner, Chery Automobile. That facility is the company's first full-scale assembly plant outside of the United Kingdom. It will have an annual capacity of 130,000 vehicles and also includes an engine plant that will start production in 2015.
The Discovery Sport will go on sale in Europe at the start of next year, replacing the Freelander SUV.
Dietsch said the Discovery Sport will offer seven seats instead of five in the Freelander so it will be more competitive against rivals such as the Audi Q5, Volvo XC60 and BMW X3.
Booming sales
China is a booming market for Jaguar Land Rover. In the first six months of 2014, the company sold 62,479 vehicles in China -- nearly 25 percent of global sales.
Last year, the company's China sales rose 30 percent to 95,237 units. In the first nine months of 2014, sales have climbed 39 percent to 66,505 units.
To maintain growth, the company plans to add a Chinese-produced Jaguar model to its lineup, said company CEO Ralf Speth.
"It's the biggest market on earth," Speth told reporters at an event Tuesday to inaugurate the plant. "Overall I'm quite optimistic that China will manage this growth."
Demand for premium SUVs in China is expected to double to 1.2 million units by 2020, with 18 brands competing for market share, predicts IHS Automotive. In 2010, automakers sold 183,781 premium SUVs in China.
The Land Rover brand aims to capture 10 percent of the premium SUV market, said to Bob Grace, president of Jaguar Land Rover's China operation.
"As our volume in absolute terms gets bigger and bigger, it becomes harder to keep doing the double-digit growth," Grace told reporters at the new factory. "We will still see reasonable growth but it won't be the stellar growth we've seen in recent years."
The factory is equally owned by the British carmaker and local joint-venture partner Chery Automobile. Jaguar Land Rover and Chery are investing 10.9 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in the plant.
Price cuts
JLR is the latest foreign automaker to set up factories in China to avoid duties that make imported vehicles less competitive. The new plant paves the way for Jaguar Land Rover to cut prices on its $94,000 Evoque.
The company has said it expects local production to cut prices by 15 percent, which may help it extend a lead over Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' SUV-centric Jeep brand and narrow a gap with Audi.
Before the Changshu plant, all Jaguar Land Rover vehicles sold in China were produced in the UK, including the Land Rover Freelander, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Evoque, as well as the Jaguar XF, XJ and F-Type Jaguar.
The imported Evoque currently starts from 578,000 yuan, about the same as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and more expensive than a larger, locally produced Audi Q5 that retails from 358,500 yuan.
Land Rover's director of programs, Murray Dietsch, said the Evoque and Discovery Sport both will be produced in the factory, which is in Changshu, northeast of Shanghai.
Dietsch was speaking at a ceremony to mark the start of Discovery Sport production at JLR's factory in Halewood near Liverpool, England. The Discovery Sport is based on the Evoque and is built on the same line as the Evoque at Halewood.
Dietsch gave no date for the start of Chinese production of the Discovery Sport and said the car initially will be imported into China.
Jaguar Land Rover built the Changshu plant with its joint venture partner, Chery Automobile. That facility is the company's first full-scale assembly plant outside of the United Kingdom. It will have an annual capacity of 130,000 vehicles and also includes an engine plant that will start production in 2015.
The Discovery Sport will go on sale in Europe at the start of next year, replacing the Freelander SUV.
Dietsch said the Discovery Sport will offer seven seats instead of five in the Freelander so it will be more competitive against rivals such as the Audi Q5, Volvo XC60 and BMW X3.
Booming sales
China is a booming market for Jaguar Land Rover. In the first six months of 2014, the company sold 62,479 vehicles in China -- nearly 25 percent of global sales.
Last year, the company's China sales rose 30 percent to 95,237 units. In the first nine months of 2014, sales have climbed 39 percent to 66,505 units.
To maintain growth, the company plans to add a Chinese-produced Jaguar model to its lineup, said company CEO Ralf Speth.
"It's the biggest market on earth," Speth told reporters at an event Tuesday to inaugurate the plant. "Overall I'm quite optimistic that China will manage this growth."
Demand for premium SUVs in China is expected to double to 1.2 million units by 2020, with 18 brands competing for market share, predicts IHS Automotive. In 2010, automakers sold 183,781 premium SUVs in China.
The Land Rover brand aims to capture 10 percent of the premium SUV market, said to Bob Grace, president of Jaguar Land Rover's China operation.
"As our volume in absolute terms gets bigger and bigger, it becomes harder to keep doing the double-digit growth," Grace told reporters at the new factory. "We will still see reasonable growth but it won't be the stellar growth we've seen in recent years."
The factory is equally owned by the British carmaker and local joint-venture partner Chery Automobile. Jaguar Land Rover and Chery are investing 10.9 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in the plant.
Price cuts
JLR is the latest foreign automaker to set up factories in China to avoid duties that make imported vehicles less competitive. The new plant paves the way for Jaguar Land Rover to cut prices on its $94,000 Evoque.
The company has said it expects local production to cut prices by 15 percent, which may help it extend a lead over Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' SUV-centric Jeep brand and narrow a gap with Audi.
Before the Changshu plant, all Jaguar Land Rover vehicles sold in China were produced in the UK, including the Land Rover Freelander, Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Evoque, as well as the Jaguar XF, XJ and F-Type Jaguar.
The imported Evoque currently starts from 578,000 yuan, about the same as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and more expensive than a larger, locally produced Audi Q5 that retails from 358,500 yuan.
