Jags and Landies to be made alongside Cherys

The National Development and Reform Commission approved the joint venture seven months after it was announced by the car manufacturers, Xinhua news agency said.

The 12bn yuan ($1.89bn) venture was approved in half the time the process usually takes in China because "Chery was familiar with the approval procedure and did not waste time", a company spokesman told the news agency.

The joint venture will set up a research and development facility and a manufacturing plant in the eastern city of Changshu in Jiangsu province.

It is scheduled to start operating in 2014 and will produce 130,000 vehicles a year, mainly Land Rovers and Jaguars but also some co-branded cars, Xinhua said.

Sales of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles reached 53,000 in China in the first nine months of the year, 80% higher than the previous year according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge