Is Jaguar Owned by Chery?
3 Answers
Jaguar is not owned by Chery. Below are relevant details: 1. Introduction: Jaguar and Chery have a joint venture relationship. Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Co., Ltd. was established in November 2012, jointly funded by Chery Automobile Co., Ltd. and Jaguar Land Rover Automotive, with a 50:50 ownership ratio. It is the first Sino-British joint venture in the premium automotive sector in China. 2. History: Jaguar was founded in Whitley, UK, by Sir William Lyons, known as "Mr. Jaguar"; Land Rover was founded in Gaydon, UK, by Maurice Wilks (then an engineer at Rover Company). In 1989, American Ford Motor Company acquired British Jaguar Cars; in 1994, German BMW acquired British Land Rover; in 2000, Ford fully acquired Land Rover from BMW; in 2002, Ford merged Jaguar and Land Rover into a single business unit. In 2008, Indian Tata Motors acquired Jaguar & Land Rover from Ford and officially established Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC the same year.
This is actually quite an interesting question, and I was puzzled about it at first too. Jaguar was originally a luxury brand used by the British royal family, but after several ownership changes, it was acquired by India's Tata Group during the 2008 financial crisis. The domestically produced Jaguar XEL and XFL models you see on the road today are indeed manufactured by the joint venture between Chery and Jaguar Land Rover, bearing the Chery Jaguar Land Rover badge at the rear. However, in terms of brand ownership, Jaguar's true parent company is India's Tata, just like Volvo belongs to Geely. Joint ventures are merely a production model and don't change brand ownership. That said, Chery's automotive technology has indeed made significant progress—the quality control of domestically produced Jaguars now fully matches that of imported models. I drove a friend's XFL and felt the chassis tuning was very solid.
I've been researching the equity structures of automotive brands for over a decade, and this issue needs to be examined separately. In 2008, India's Tata Motors acquired Jaguar Land Rover in full from Ford, so the brand entity is currently an Indian enterprise. However, since 2012, Chery and Jaguar Land Rover have jointly established Chery Jaguar Land Rover Company, with some models manufactured at the Changshu plant. Therefore, car owners often see the 'Chery Jaguar' logo on the rear of vehicles, but similar to 'Volvo Asia Pacific,' it's a cooperative production relationship rather than a brand affiliation. In practical vehicle use, the after-sales service system for domestically produced Jaguars does share many resources with Chery. Just last week, I helped a friend replace a headlight assembly at a Chery 4S store.
