SMMT News

UK suppliers win in excess of £1.5 billion JLR contracts

10 May 2013 #SMMT News

The first Jaguar F-TYPE customer cars left the Castle Bromwich manufacturing facility this week with the announcement that over half of the car’s contract value is with UK companies. More than £1.5 billion of orders have been placed with companies across the UK, with domestic contracts taking the lion’s share of the £2.8 billion placed in total.

116 UK suppliers support the build of the UK-designed, engineered and manufactured Jaguar F-TYPE with 50% of suppliers from the West Midlands. In all, 270 companies worldwide featured in the sportscar’s order book following the completion of a global competitive tendering exercise on component sourcing for the vehicle.

Jaguar Land Rover has created almost 9,000 new jobs in the UK over the last two years, including 2,000 new engineers and 350 to directly support the new F-TYPE. The contracts awarded to support the F-TYPE are expected to create thousands more new skilled jobs across the UK’s automotive supply chain.

Ian Harnett, Jaguar Land Rover’s Purchasing Director said, “As one of the leading investors in automotive research and development in the UK, Jaguar Land Rover generates several billion pounds of economic activity here every year. As today’s announcement demonstrates we are working with world-class suppliers to strengthen the UK automotive supply base and support our ambitious plans for growth in the future.”

Destined for customers around the world, the new Jaguar F-TYPE vehicles were loaded onto a train at the company’s onsite rail facility at Castle Bromwich earlier today. With sales in over 170 countries, Jaguar Land Rover generates export revenues approaching £11 billion each year, making it one of the UK’s largest exporters by value. It anticipates that it will export more than 75% of Jaguar F-TYPE vehicles produced. The USA is expected to be the largest market with almost half of all sales, closely followed by the UK and Germany.

Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s Global Brand Director said, “Since we unveiled the car last year, the level of customer interest in the F-TYPE has been unprecedented. It is a very proud moment for us to see some of the very first customer cars leave our Castle Bromwich facility today.”

Last month, almost 450 potential customers were given an exclusive insight into the F-TYPE and a behind the scenes tour of the Castle Bromwich factory. Jaguar Land Rover has invested significantly in its Castle Bromwich manufacturing facility to create the fastest and most advanced Jaguar sports car production line for the F-TYPE.

F-TYPE production has been incorporated into the manufacturing operation at Castle Bromwich to maximise capacity, technology and skills at the plant. Jaguar Land Rover has utilised and enhanced the manufacturing techniques and technologies employed for the Jaguar XK production, while introducing new equipment and processes specifically required for the F-TYPE. The all-aluminium construction of the F-TYPE is carried out in Castle Bromwich’s 14,000 square metre body shop, which employs manufacturing techniques adapted from the aerospace industry.

For more information about UK automotive manufacturing, supply, employment and other facts and figures, download SMMT’s Motor Industry Facts 2013.

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