British luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is reportedly planning to commence operations at a local car assembly plant in China by the end of 2014.
The move would allow the car maker to evade 25% import tariff levied by China and also increase sales by capitalizing on the growing Chinese market.
The company is planning to build Range Rover SUVs at the plant, in collaboration with its Chinese venture with Chery Automobile and make it available by early 2015.
Jaguar Land Rover China President Bob Grace said the company started to make the first prototype bodies this week, and it is almost a miracle that has come out of the ground in such a short period of time.
"It's going to be a product from the Land Rover stable, so it's going to be an SUV," Grace added.
With the commencement of local production, the company is expected to decrease prices by 15%, while the plant is expected to have an initial production capacity of 130,000 vehicles per year.
