Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Stellantis are in talks to jointly develop vehicles in the US, the French-Italian conglomerate said. The two groups have signed a preliminary agreement, which entails collaboration opportunities for the development of new products as well as technologies, reported Reuters. However, further details were not shared by either company.
Stellantis is a French-Italian automotive conglomerate consisting of major carmakers such as Fiat, Citroen, Peugeot, Dodge among others. Jaguar-Land Rover is owned by Tata Motors.
For JLR, the potential collaboration offers a strategic pathway to establish a manufacturing footprint in the United States. It the United States a critical growth market driven by the popularity of luxury utility vehicles such as the Defender and Range Rover. However, the company currently lacks local production facilities in the region and is seeking localized manufacturing solutions to mitigate financial pressures resulting from recent import tariffs.
Stellantis also said earlier that it was planning a joint venture with Dongfeng, a Chinese state-owned automaker. Dongfeng has already partnered with Stellantis to manufacture cars for its Peugeot and Citroen brands for sale in China, a collaboration that has been ongoing under various names since 1992. However, this new partnership would be related to production of electric vehicles (EVs).