A joint venture between Jaguar Land Rover and China’s Chery Automobile Co. has launched trial runs of the stamping operation and body shop in its assembly plant in the east China city of Changshu, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The 10.9 billion yuan ($1.76 billion) factory is due to launch production in the fourth quarter, the newspaper said. The plant will build as many as 130,000 vehicles annually.

Jaguar Land Rover is preparing to launch production in China as sales are starting to rise. Last year, company sales increased 30 percent to 95,237 units.

“[This year] is a very important year for Chery Jaguar Land Rover,” Guohua Zhu, the joint venture’s deputy president, was quoted as saying in an interview with the Shanghai Daily. “We will move from the construction phase to the overall production phase.”