JLR has confirmed it will invest £355 million in a new facility to manufacture all-new, advanced technology, low-emission engines in the UK.
The announcement of the investment by JLR, a subsidiary of India’s Tata Motors, was marked by a visit to the company’s Solihull vehicle production plant by Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills.
The new advanced engine facility will be built at a business park near Wolverhampton in the UK’s Midlands.
“Today’s announcement that Jaguar Land Rover will build a new low-emission engine plant in the West Midlands is excellent news for UK automotive and comes as SMMT meets high profile politicians to promote investment led growth,” said SMMT Chief Executive, Paul Everitt. “Government now needs to build on this momentum, working closely with the Automotive Council to help deliver growth in automotive manufacturing and the supply chain.”
“As part of our long-term strategy for the JLR business, we will design, engineer and manufacture a new family of advanced engines,” said Dr Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer, JLR. “This is a major commitment for our company and we will produce these advanced, highly-efficient engines for future Jaguar and Land Rover models at a new facility in the UK.”
“As we invest £1.5 billion a year for the next five years on new product developments, expanding our engine range will help us realise the full global potential of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. The all-new family of 4 cylinder engines will increase JLR’s capability to offer high performance engines with class-leading levels of refinement, whilst ensuring continued significant reductions in vehicle emissions.”
“I would like to pay tribute to the strong support we have received for this project from our key partners,” said Mike Wright, Executive Director, JLR. “The constructive and collaborative support we have received from the Government, our trade union colleagues, Local Authorities, local MPs, and of course our employees has been crucial in enabling us to reach this very significant decision.”
The engine manufacturing facility is expected to create up to 750 highly-skilled engineering and manufacturing posts at JLR, along with thousands more highly-skilled manufacturing jobs in the supply chain and the wider UK economy.
Jaguar Land Rover employs more than 19,000 people directly in the UK and supports up to 140,000 jobs in total through the supply chain, dealer network and wider economy.
