Chery Jaguar Land Rover zooms into China’s premium fast lane
Five-year-old Sino-British joint venture Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive has established itself as one of the most popular and fastest-growing premium carmakers in China, the world’s biggest car market.
Established in 2012, it finished construction of a world-class plant in strict accordance with Jaguar Land Rover’s global standards.
Within the first 18 months of production, it rolled out three all-new models under the Jaguar and Land Rover brands — the Range Rover Evoque, the Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Jaguar XFL — a pace unrivaled in the car industry.
A fourth model, the Jaguar XEL sedan, which made its global premiere at the Guangzhou auto show last month, is to hit the market in December.
Its cars have been well received in the fiercely competitive Chinese market, where cars from almost all brands worldwide can be found.
Chery Jaguar Land Rover sold a total of 73,619 cars in the first 11 months this year, a 39 percent surge year-on-year and more than those sold in the whole year of 2016.
“Our growth is the result of our business strategy which focuses on product quality, accelerated localization and continuously enhanced operational efficiency,” said Murray Dietsch, president of the joint venture.
“Over the past five years, we have been striving for excellence through the latest technologies and products,” he said.
“With the XEL and the Jaguar E-PACE, we will have five localized models to offer Chinese customers a better mobility experience.”
Its more than 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) plant in Changshu, Jiangsu province is Jaguar Land Rover’s first car manufacturing facility outside the United Kingdom and has been hailed as a model for the carmaker’s global plants.
All of the plant’s workshops — press, paint, welding and trim — boast advanced equipment. Its press workshop is 90 percent automatic. Equipped with the world’s most advanced servo press line and the fastest mechanical press line in China, it can complete one body panel every three seconds. A total of 340 robots from Swedish-Swiss company ABB Group work in the company’s car body workshops.
The plant has also introduced a manufacturing simulation system, which helps cut production time and prevent possible errors.
The joint venture also has China’s first aluminum car body workshop, with 340 robots. Car bodies of two Jaguar models comprise 75 percent aluminum alloy, the highest percentage in China. Using aluminum enables faster acceleration, more accurate control, shorter braking distance and better fuel efficiency, said the joint venture.
“We introduced the industry-leading lightweight technology into China, which is the most intelligent and green technology, making a great contribution to the development of China’s automobile industry,” said Chris Chen, deputy president of the carmaker.
Chery Jaguar Land Rover is expanding its plant, with its production capacity expected to increase 50 percent when finished.
It also unveiled its new engine plant in July, which is producing Jaguar Land Rover’s new Ingenium 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine for locally made cars. The engine is the heart of the British carmaker’s powertrain strategy, which is to offer exceptional performance and more effective fuel consumption.
The joint venture has also introduced a build-to-order approach, which prevents overstocking and precisely meets buyers’ personalized requirements.
Orders travel through an end-to-end manufacturing execution system, which covers all processes from production and quality control to logistics and tracking systems.
Chery Jaguar Land Rover said its success also depends on its operational system, global quality standards, a sound research and development platform and a well-developed procurement system.
The joint venture has built good relations with more than 300 Chinese and international suppliers, which have also benefitted its development in the past five years.
Alongside its rapid growth, it has built up a professional team of 6,000 employees. Looking towards its future development, the joint venture is investing heavily in resources each year and enhancing the skills of its workforce with a series of training programs.
Building on its strengths, the joint venture is fully confident about its future in the market.
“From 2013 to 2015, we started from zero and went to level one. From 2016 to 2018, we are improving what we have, with effective and efficient procedures. And from 2019, we will go for faster development,” said Chen.
“From a new starting point, we will continue to fulfill our promise to deliver to Chinese customers world-class products and services.”