Yesterday, Jaguar Land Rover’s new China factory, located in Changshu, Jiangsu province, officially started its production. This marks the completion of JLR’s first step in product localization process in the China market.
The JLR China factory is a 50:50 joint venture between JLR and Chery Automobile (a Chinese automobile company).
If you are wondering whenever each foreign auto maker wants to setup a factory in China, why it need to cooperate with a Chiese automobile company in the form of joint venture? The simple answer that the Chinese government offers significantly better benefits/tax exemptions for such incorporation form. The total investement on the JLR new factory is around RMB 10.9 billion (approx. USD $1.78b).
The first car model that the JLR China factory produces is the Evoque, and the factory has the ability to manufacturing/assembling all components of the Evoque, including its engine. It is expected that the JLR China factory has an anual production volume of 130,000 units.
The 36,067 sqm area stamping room has two types of stamping machines: the first one can process 20 parts per minute; the second one can reach the speed of 15 parts per minute.
The welding room occupies a total area of 52,576 sqm. 85% of the welding spots, 90% of the parts delivery, all of the adhesive application are executed by 306 robots automatically. On average, the welding room can fully complete welding one car body-in-white in every 2 minutes, and it can produce 3 different car models at the same time.
The painting room has an area of 28,289 sqm, using the RO-DIP rotational painting system.
The 100,000-sqm final assembly room provides automatic parts logistics for interior parts and panels; utilizing flexible production methodology, 3 different models can be assembled at the same time.
The quality assurance center is the smallest department in the factory, only has 4,320 sqm of area. It has two types of 3-coordinate measurement system: the 7-meter system measures the car body size; another 14-meter system can take care other types of test.
Major differences between the China local and import versioin of the Evoque are: the silver color section in the front bumper, and the “Chery-Land Rover” badge on the back.
In the future, multiple Jaguar and Land Rover models which are sold in China will be made by the same JLR Changshu factory. Models includes: the Land Rover Discovery and the Jaguar XE long-wheelbase version.
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