Jaguar sign ￡4.5b agreement for 100,000 car sales

British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to China began with a visit to Jaguar Land Rover's training academy in Beijing to mark its official opening as Jaguar Land Rover sign a new agreement to provide 100,000 cars to the National Sales Company in China over the next year, demonstrating the value of the UK market to British companies.

Jaguar Land Rover's activities in China indirectly support 38,000 British jobs and China has now overtaken Britain to become its largest market. The technical academy in Beijing has the capacity to train 4,500 people a year – the trainees are technicians, sales consultants and service advisors. It's the second such facility to open in China and will shortly be complemented by a new Academy in Guangzhou. Collectively these centres will see more than 10,500 technicians, sales consultants and service representatives trained to deliver world class levels of customer service across 223 authorised dealers in more than 90 cities.

"I hope that by advancing and extending our bilateral trade, by working together on the global issues that affect us all, and by maintaining an honest and open dialogue, my visit to China can plant the seeds of a long-term relationship which will benefit China, Britain and the world for generations to come," said Cameron, summing up his ambition for his China trip.