The Jaguar Land Rover success story epitomises what is needed in the British economy, a greater focus on manufacturing and the creation of jobs in areas that need regenerating, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
He was speaking during a visit to Tata Motors‘ UK unit’s new GBP500m engine factory near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands which will produce the company’s new range of low emission powerplants.
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Cameron said: “The economy has been too focused on the South of England and too much on services.
“What we are seeing with this new JLR factory is a company putting people back to work in an area that was once the workshop of Europe. The British automotive sector has been very positive and we need in future to design more things, manufacture more things and train more people.”
The purpose-built 100,000 sq m factory, the first new production facility to be built by JLR, is centrally placed to serve the company’s vehicle plants at Halewood, near Liverpool, and Solihull and Castle Bromwich close to Birmingham.
The new factory comprises three main manufacturing halls, one for for machining cylinder heads, cylinder blocks and crankshafts, one for diesel engine assembly and the other for petrol engines.
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By GlobalDataAbout 1,400 jobs have been created at the facility which will manufacture the first family of premium, advanced technology engines engines designed entirely in house by JLR. A further 3,500 jobs will be created in the wider supply chain with 28% of the 70 suppliers based in the UK.
Work on the plant, on the site of Wolverhampton’s new i54 technology park, started in July last year and the first engines will come off the line next January and go into the new small Jaguar due for launch in 2015.
The company is not revealing capacity but the plant will eventually produce one engine every 36 seconds.
JLR executive director Mike Wright, said: “This gives the brands the opportunity to produce their own engines for the first time in more than a decade and in high volumes for the first time ever.
“Since JLR was formed we have continued to source engines from our previous parent Ford. We will continue to purchase six and eight cylinder engines from them as we still see growth even as the trend is towards smaller, more efficient units.
“As we enter new markets we will still see a demand from certain buyers who want a larger engine.”
