Stellantis, JLR to explore jointly developing vehicles in US

(Reuters) – Stellantis and Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover will consider jointly developing vehicles in ​the U.S., the French-Italian automaker said ‌on Wednesday.

The two companies signed a preliminary agreement to explore collaboration opportunities in ​product and technology development.

They did ​not disclose any further details.

The potential ⁠collaboration would be the latest ​in a string of partnerships between global ​automakers as they look to cut production and R&D expenses and fill underutilized capacity.

Earlier ​in the day, Stellantis said ​it was planning a joint venture in Europe with ‌China’s ⁠Dongfeng that would explore production of electric vehicles.

For JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles the U.S. collaboration ​with ​Stellantis as its financials have ⁠taken a large hit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s ​tariffs.

The U.S. is a key ​growth ⁠market for JLR, where its Defender and Range Rover luxury SUVs are ⁠popular. ​However, it has no ​manufacturing presence in the country.

Reporting by Nandan Mandayam ​in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed