JLR growth plans accelerate with investment in new UK advanced engine facility
20 September 2011
Following a successful Frankfurt International Motor Show and recent discussions between Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and UK government ministers, JLR has confirmed a £355m investment in a new facility to manufacture all-new, advanced technology, low-emission engines in the UK. The announcement was marked by a visit to the company's Solihull vehicle production plant by deputy PM Nick Clegg and business secretary Vince Cable.
Jaguar Land Rover
The new advanced engine facility will be built at i54 South Staffordshire, a business park near Wolverhampton in the UK's Midlands.
Dr Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer, JLR, said: "As part of our long-term strategy for the JLR business, we will design, engineer and manufacture a new family of advanced engines. 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."
Mike Wright, Executive Director, JLR, said: "I would like to pay tribute to the strong support we have received for this project from our key partners. 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.
The latest news comes as Jaguar Land Rover continues to benefit from its strongest ever product line-up, further strengthened recently by the launch of the Range Rover Evoque, the new Jaguar XF with a four-cylinder turbodiesel engine and significant enhancements to the XK range, Land Rover Discovery, Defender and Range Rover.
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.
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