JAGUAR LAND ROVER has to keep up with new energy with the help of Chery

In the rapidly changing and competitive Chinese market, how can multinational car manufacturers achieve business success through classic joint ventures with local partners? Volkswagen, Xpeng Motors, Stellantis, Leapmotor, Audi, and SAIC are all first to eat crabs in the collaborations.

But right now, Jaguar Land Rover and Chery become the fourth one.

Jaguar Land Rover and its Chinese partner Chery Auto have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to strengthen their product portfolio at their joint venture company in China, Chery Jaguar Land Rover, and accelerate the transition towards electrification. Under the agreement, Chery Jaguar Land Rover will develop and manufacture a series of electric products based on the Freelander brand authorized by Jaguar Land Rover.

The main purpose of cooperation between Jaguar Land Rover and Chery is to share the technology.

To accelerate the electrification transition

For this cooperation, there are three main purposes.

1. Chery Jaguar Land Rover will obtain the “Freelander” logo and it can be used in the new brand.

2. The new product will be sold through newly established channels, alongside brands like Chery, Jaguar, and Land Rover, utilizing Chery's electric vehicle development platform.

3. In the future, the “Freelander” brand will ship to overseas.

Photo credit：CHERY JAGUAR LAND ROVER

The collaboration between Chery and Jaguar Land Rover differs significantly from previous instances of reverse technology output by joint venture brands. The partnership aims to leverage their strengths and resources in jointly incubating the new brand “Freelander”. Based on available information, “Freelander” specifically targets the mainstream consumer market and operates independently from Jaguar Land Rover's luxury segment. Consequently, the electric Freelander will not compete or overlap with existing Jaguar Land Rover models sold in China.

In the year of 2023. JAGUAR LAND ROVER has published its new strategy which is called “Rebuild future”, with this strategy, JAGUAR LAND ROVER will accelerate the electrification transition.

The first all-new Jaguar product, a four-door electric GT vehicle, will be produced at the Solihull factory in the UK. It is built on the exclusive Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA) platform and is set to launch in 2025.

Land Rover also introduced its pure electric model and began accepting pre-orders by the end of last year. As of June 20th, Jaguar Land Rover Investor Day, it was revealed that there are already over 38,000 customers waiting to purchase the all-electric version of Range Rover.

According to the plan, Jaguar Land Rover will launch six pure electric vehicle models in the next 5 years. Within 10 years, all their brands will offer only electric products, with Jaguar becoming a fully electric luxury brand by 2025. The company aims for its brand's pure electric vehicles to account for 60% of sales by 2030.

Jaguar Land Rover is currently taking a dual approach to electrification, testing the Chinese market with their electric brand “FREELANDER” and gathering feedback, while also expediting the introduction of their electrified products globally under the “Rebuild future” strategy.

From “market for technology” to “technology for market”

Intelligent electrification has led to a diversified development pattern in China's automobile market, shifting from a "single input" to a "two-way input". Domestic car manufacturers now empower joint ventures and foreign car companies in emerging technology fields such as electrification and intelligence.

It is worth noting that in Xpeng's previous financial report, the collaboration with Volkswagen has already yielded initial results: through platform and software cooperation, Xpeng Motors achieved a profit of over 1 billion yuan in Q1, indicating establishing an initial path to profitability through technological output.

The cooperation between Chery and Jaguar Land Rover reduces the risk for Jaguar Land Rover in exploring electrification further. By incorporating Chery's pure electric technology platform, Jaguar Land Rover can reintroduce the “Freelander” brand and expand the joint venture company's portfolio of pure electric products quickly without affecting its existing four major brand families.

In addition to quickly filling gaps in its electric vehicle lineup and gaining a competitive cost advantage, Jaguar Land Rover benefits from Chery's first-ever technology transfer of complete vehicle platforms from overseas car companies. The collaboration with Chery introduces Exeed's E0X electric platform, a high-performance platform that covers A-C class sedans/SUVs/MPVs with five-seat, six-seat, and seven-seat models. With the E0X electric platform, Jaguar Land Rover can accelerate its electrification efforts by introducing cost-effective and competitive electric vehicles.

Contrary to the early stages of China's automotive industry development when overseas technology was required, the current growth of the domestic new energy vehicle industry is attracting more multinational car companies to collaborate in China, according to insiders. Domestic brands are also leveraging the new energy track by selling products equipped with Chery's electrification platform in overseas markets, enhancing Chery's brand recognition internationally and further boosting its expansion abroad.

However, it will take time to observe the impact of independent brands' expansion and price reductions by top luxury brands on second-tier luxury brands' survival space and their contribution to Chery Jaguar Land Rover through electrification. 

Translator：Wei Xiong