IndiaInc: Tata in joint venture with China’s Chery

Tata Motors' Jaguar Land Rover has inked a deal for a joint venture with China's Chery Automotive to build cars in the PRC, Reuters reports in a brief item Wednesday.

I don't know much about the Chinese automobile market anymore, but presumably the deal will allow JLR to sell its vehicles there more cheaply, by avoiding punitive import taxes.

(Full disclosure: When I was in the public relations biz in Beijing, I helped set up a circus-like event for Rover to donate a bunch of Range Rovers to the Ministry of Culture — in the Forbidden City, no less.  Looks like they've come a long way since the mid-1990s. Or maybe not.)

Does this mean Chery is for real? Or we should be looking for a BusinessWeek headline along the lines of "Here come the Chindian cars?" 

Maybe. Tata Motors seems to have lost its way a little bit since I tried to sell a feature on Tata, Chery, Geely and "the Race To Be The Next Hyundai" But I'm not sure whether any of the Chinese car makers are doing any better.