The Jaguar Land Rover - Chery joint venture rolled out the first China-assembled Range Rover Evoque yesterday from their yet-to-be completed factory in Changshu, Jiangsu province. The media were not invited for the rolling out ceremony as the factory is yet to be complete (inauguration expected in July this year).
China will be the first location to assemble the Evoque outside the UK. While official details are unavailable, we imagine the Halewood plant to ship CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits of the Evoque to China. The Evoque in China is available only with the four-cylinder 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol engine (a Ford EcoBoost unit). It produces 240 hp and 340 Nm of torque and is paired to the new ZF 9-speed automatic transmission.
Currently sold as an import, the Evoque is priced between 578,000 CNY (INR 54 lakhs) to 628,000 CNY (INR 59 lakhs). The Chinese media expect prices to go down by 20 percent following local assembly. The launch of the locally-assembled Evoque is expected to take place by the end of this year.
The Evoque is the best selling car for JLR in China making up 36 percent of its last year's volume. In 2013, China overtook UK as the single largest market for JLR.
Media reports point out that the factory will also assemble the Freelander 2 and a long wheelbase variant of the XF in the future.
[Images from Auto Sohu]
