Jaguar Land Rover announce new engine plant
JLR executive director Mike Wright, with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable celebrate the news.
IT was good news for the UK, and the Midlands in particular, when Jaguar Land Rover confirmed a £355-million investment in a new engine factory.
Now a subsidiary of Tata Motors, of India, the company announced plans for the factory to build new advanced technology, low emission engines at Wolverhampton.
Jaguar Land Rover CEO Dr Ralf Speth said: 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 four-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.”
The carmaker’s executive director Mike Wright added: “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 new engine factory is expected to provide around 750 quality engineering and manufacturing jobs, and add a big boost to the region by creating thousands more in the supply chain.
The recent years of investment in new models is paying off as Jaguar Land Rover go from strength to strength. A highlight of the upturn are the much-heralded Range Rover Evoque, the award-winning Jaguar XF and a whole host of improvements to the XK range, Land Rover Discovery, Defender and Range Rover.