CJLR improves marketing, efficiency to break out of market fluctuation

Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive, the first Sino-British premium automotive joint venture, is optimistic about its domestic sales in the second half of this year. The company expects double-digit growth in the coming months, executives said.

The joint venture has experienced sales declines in the past year, but statistics show its sales rebound has already started.

The sales of Jaguar Land Rover in China surged 40.3 percent year-on-year in July.

Murray Dietsch, president of Chery Jaguar Land Rover, said during an interview last week the company listened to dealers and made changes to better satisfy market demands.

Dietsch said the company focused on improving dealers' confidence and profitability to ensure stable and sustainable growth in the depressed market.

Their dealers have the highest participation and the lowest vehicle inventory now.

Some 18 provinces and municipalities have adopted the stricter States VI emissions standards from July 1, which required dealers to clear their inventory of vehicles in line with the States V emission standards. In response, Chery Jaguar Land Rover made conservative sales estimates.

Chris Chen, vice-president of Chery Jaguar Land Rover, said July's sales figures exceeded expectations.

The company also released the all-new Range Rover Evoque in late July, promoting the vehicle with a host of marketing events, which helped to attract more customers to enter stores and learn more about the vehicle, Chen added.

Chen said the company will launch updated models at the Chengdu and Guangzhou auto shows.

The joint venture has localized six models from both Jaguar and Land Rover brands: the previous-generation Range Rover Evoque, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the Jaguar XFL, the Jaguar XEL and the Jaguar E-PACE and the all-new Range Rover Evoque.

The achievements of Chery Jaguar Land Rover are thanks to its Changshu plant in Jiangsu province, which has been focusing on intelligent manufacturing to customize models for customers in China of both Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

The first phase of the plant can produce 130,000 vehicles annually. The second phase, put into operation in last June, can produce 70,000 units.

The plant adopts Premium Transverse Architecture, or PTA, which is the latest manufacturing platform independently developed by Jaguar Land Rover.

The platform delivers a solution that is flexible, more efficient and electric-ready.

The all-new Range Rover Evoque is the first Land Rover model to adopt the latest PTA platform. According to Dietsch, the platform will provide more hybrid options over the next two years.

Jaguar Land Rover will launch the Modular Longitudinal Architecture or MLA platform, which is relatively larger compared with PTA. "We hope to use the platform to produce more models with the latest technologies to increase production and reduce costs," Dietsch said.

The plant also applies the 5G technology to create a new intelligent ecology system with the integration of the new IT, energy and environment protection.

It partnered with China Unicom, a telecom service provider, to introduce the 5G communication technology into manufacturing in April.