Jaguar-Land Rover, the British subsidiary of Tata Motors, is in talks with China’s leading sport utility vehicle maker – Great Wall Motor Co – for a potential tie-up in the Chinese market, as per statements given by two executives of the company to Reuters on Monday.
In a statement given to Reuters, a Great Wall executive said, "The two companies are exploring opportunities for a cooperative effort. Senior executives of Jaguar and Land Rover came over and visited our plant earlier this month."
Another executive of the company told Reuters, "It's fair to say that contacts between the two parties have already passed the initial stage, but no final decision has been reached so far." According to this second executive, the Chairman of the Great Wall Group, Mr. Wei Jianjun, had met with senior executives of Jaguar and Land Rover during their China tour.
While speaking to analysts after the third quarter results, Tata Motors Chief Financial Officer, C Ramakrishna did not deny rumours on cooperation, though defusing them somewhat:"We have looked at that and to the extent I have understood from JLR colleagues, we do not believe it will impact our volumes in the near future." He added, "In China, for Jaguar, we needed to incorporate some product features in our models particularly on the rear seat entertainment and that is being introduced into the product just now. I think that should support our further volume growth in China."
