LONDON -- Jaguar Land Rover is in talks to build a factory in the United States, a British newspaper report said.
JLR did not confirm or deny the report. A spokesman told Automotive News Europe that the company "is looking at how it can expand its footprint globally and there are various options on the table."
The UK luxury automaker is talking with several southern U.S. states including South Carolina about financial support for a factory that would eventually produce 200,000 vehicles a year, the Sunday Times reported.
A U.S. plant would enable JLR to avoid import tariffs and smoothen the impact fluctuating currency rates, the paper said.
Jaguar Land Rover has been expanding its product lineup and global presence since Tata Motors bought the automaker from Ford Motor in 2008.
The company will open its first factory in China tomorrow. The plant in Changshu, northeast of Shanghai, is a joint venture partner with Chery Automobile and is the company’s first full-scale production facility outside of its UK base.
JLR will also open a factory in the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in 2016.
