Report - Chinese auto company JAC Motors mulls Indian foray

17/02/2014 - 23:00 | JAC S5, JAC Motors | Shrawan Raja

JAC Motors (officially Jianghuai Automobile Co Ltd) is planning to sell vehicles in India, a person privy to the company's strategy has told Economic Times.

JAC has deputed its top executives to India to identify a location to build a CKD factory, the report, citing its source, says. The company is seeking to "develop a host of applications" to establish a business in India.

JAC S30 front three quarters left — The JAC S30 (S5 in some markets) is conceivably a good rival to the Renault Duster.

After Beiqi Foton (for commercial vehicles) and Great Wall Motors (for its SUV brand 'Haval'), JAC is the third Chinese company that is planning to set up shop in India.

State-run JAC is one of top 10 Chinese companies that sells a portfolio of 9 passenger vehicles and three commercial vehicles. Besides automobiles, the company sells four engines (3 petrol, 1 diesel) and five types of chassis. The company makes 700,000 vehicles and 500,000 engines a year, and runs two off-shore R&D centers in Italy and Japan.

The A20 sedan can be positioned to take on the Maruti Swift Dzire.

The report does not state which models are being primed for India, but as the soft-SUV segment is growing robustly, the JAC S5/S30 (styled similar to the Hyundai ix35/Tucson) if available with a diesel option, appears to be an interesting candidate.

The J6 could be the card that gets JAC into the hands of fleet operators.

A perceived reason for JAC establishing an Indian business arm is slowing growth in the Chinese market, which is predicted to grow between 5-8 percent in the next decade.