Indian automotive giant Tata Motors plans to recruit 1,000 local Chinese workers for its 1-billion pound Jaguar Land Rover joint venture in China, which will include a new engine plant.
The West Midlands-based car maker has been training 50 of those workers at its Halewood plant in Merseyside, according to ‘The Sunday Times’
The workers are due to return to China at the end of the month, where they will pass on their skills to others.
JLR wants to cash in on the huge demand for its vehicles in China by launching its own giant manufacturing operation in Changshu near Shanghai.
Its best-selling Evoque “baby Range Rover” will be the first car to roll off the production line.
Sources told the newspaper that the factory, built under a joint venture with Chery, the Chinese car manufacturer, will produce up to 130,000 cars a year, rising to 200,000.
This would put it on a par with JLR’s operations at Solihull, which builds Range Rover and Halewood.
The iconic luxury car brands clocked up record pre-tax profits of £1.7 billion in the financial year 2012—2013.
The firm has also signed a letter of intent with the government of Saudi Arabia and is in “intensive” discussions with Brazil.
The talks could lead to new factories in these countries.
“We expect the Brazil decision before Christmas,” said Ralf Speth, CEO of JLR.
The company under the Tata Group’s ownership is now Britain’s biggest exporter of manufactured goods, generating export revenues of 11 billion pounds a year.
It has also hired more than 11,000 people in the past three years, including last month’s announcement of an additional 1,700 at Solihull.