Jaguar Land Rover China roars into 2014

Jaguar  Land Rover China President Bob Grace is pictured in his Shanghai office after an interview on Jan 13, 2014. Grace, 51, has entered the fourth year at his current position since 2010. [Photo by Hao Yan/chinadaily.com.cn]

Joint venture with China's Chery Automotive expected to be producing prototypes by mid-year

Exciting new products, soaring sales numbers, and the potential for explosive growth.

These were among the announcements Bob Grace, president of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) China, promised to deliver at the upcoming Auto China 2014 set to rev-up in April in Beijing.

Other aspects of the company remained the same: "The growth driver, apart from the new joint venture factory, is just to continue deliver a great new product," he said.

These were hardly the only big takeaways from an interview on Monday with Grace.

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The 51-year-old president, appointed to the position in 2010, also announced that Land Rover will release its first-ever low-emission, hybrid SUV in the middle of this year, and predicted that the two-year-old joint production between the British carmaker and China's Chery Automotive will begin to meet the demands of the growing Chinese market.

"I think by the middle of this year, we should start to see the first stages of the prototype production happening in Changshu," said Grace, referring to the new jointly run factory in China's Jiangsu province.

The release of JLR China's 2013 sales figures were also enough to set the pulse racing.

JLR China sold more than 95,200 cars last year, 30 percent more than that of 2012. The Chinese market also contributed 22.4 percent of the global sales volume of 425,000 units.

"The reaction from Chinese consumers has been phenomenal on Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, and also to Jaguar F-Type," said Grace.

In fact, Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Trading (Shanghai) Co, the British carmaker's China company, has seen sales of its Jaguar brand car surge 140 percent to over 17,800 in 2013. Additionally, 77,300 Land Rover vehicles were sold, up 17 percent.

China sales

China's eastern region contributed 38 percent to the total sales, the highest proportion among sales region.

The company's most popular product is Range Rover Evoque which was launched in November 2011. The medium-sized urban SUV has contributed 36 percent to the Land Rover sales.

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