Chery Finds Foreign Partner in Jaguar 奇瑞与捷豹路虎联姻前景堪忧
The upstart Chery, one of China’s only major car makers without a foreign partner, may be close to a tie up with Jaguar Land Rover, in a deal that looks both interesting but also questionable to me in terms of chances for success. Foreign media are reporting the 2 sides would join forces to manufacture cars in China, presumably Jaguars and Land Rovers, to cater to the market’s strong appetite for luxury cars. From a demand perspective, such a tie-up certainly makes sense. Luxury car makers like BMW, Audi and even the stodgy Rolls Royce all saw their unit sales rise in the healthy double digits last year, even as the broader market only managed to eke out a small gain, as newly affluent Chinese clamored for the latest status symbols to show off their wealth. I just returned from a trip to the provinces myself during the Chinese new year holiday, and was surprised to see an Alfa Romeo driving down a dusty partially paved road in a very small town, testifying to the popularity of luxury cars just about anywhere people have money. Chery also sorely needs a foreign partner to help it weather the coming downturn in China’s auto market, and has come close to tie-ups at least twice only to see them fall through. All that said, I’m not completely convinced that Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, is the best partner for Chery. Jaguar Land Rover was struggling when Tata bought it from Ford in 2008. Perhaps performance has improved since then, but I suspect the brands are still struggling or perhaps just breaking even. What’s more, Chery is famous for its smaller, cute QQ cars, though more recently it has also gotten into bigger sedans. But it has no experience with luxury cars, and I’m not sure if Jaguar Land Rover is the right company to enter that area with. At the end of the day, I see a rough road ahead for this joint venture, though perhaps it will be like Chery’s other foreign tie-ups and stall out before it ever starts making cars.
Bottom line: A proposed new joint venture between Chery and Jaguar Land Rover sounds interesting in theory, but will run into numerous problems if it gets approved.
Related postings 相关文章:
◙ Cars: US, Germany Clobber Japan, Domestic Rivals 美德汽车在华完胜日本和中国车商
◙ China Slams the Brakes on Automakers 中国为汽车行业踩刹车
◙ Geely Choking on Volvo Debt, Weak Sales 吉利债台高筑
