JLR Said to Be Near Agreement on Factory in Eastern Europe

Tata Motors Ltd.'s Jaguar Land Rover unit is expected later this year to choose a location in eastern Europe for an assembly plant, sources tell the Financial Times.

They says JLR will select a site in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland or Slovakia, depending on which country offers the best incentives. One source says JLR's only interest in the region is the low labor costs there. The FT predicts the plant would be big enough to make at least 250,000 vehicles per year.

JLR has historically made all its Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles at three factories in the U.K. Those facilities, which are running at full capacity, collectively made about 462,000 units in 2014. The company aims to sell 500,000 vehicles in 2015.

JLR opened a €1.8 billion assembly plant in China last October that can make 130,000 vehicles annually for the local market. The company also is erecting a €295 million factory in Itatiaia, Brazil, next year, to supply Latin America with Land Rover Discovery Sport SUVs and other models at a maximum rate of 24,000 units per year.

JLR reportedly is looking at several locations in America's South to build a factory that could makes as many as 200,000 vehicles annually.