Tata Motors‘ Jaguar Land Rover has announced a GBP600m plant and R&D spend in central England where it is based.
The largest single outlay has been made at the Castle Bromwich assembly plant where about GBP400m was spent on new and upgraded facilities for the redesigned Jaguar XF unveiled this week ahead of its New York motor show public debut.
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This includes a GBP320m aluminium body shop which, JLR said, “completes the site’s transformation into a global centre of excellence for lightweight vehicle manufacturing”.
The introduction of the latest XF completes an all-aluminium line-up at the Midlands plant which has seen considerable spending on every stage of the manufacturing process.
GBP16m went on a new blanker line which will allow the plant to turn coils of aluminium into blank sheets pressed into body panels and parts on a new Aida GBP50m press line which is currently under construction.
This line will feed in to the new body shop, the most flexible and versatile of its kind throughout Jaguar Land Rover, capable of switching between the entire range of models mid-production. Another GBP30m went towards upgrading the trim and final assembly hall.
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By GlobalData“The company’s latest infrastructure investment at Castle Bromwich builds on the plants pioneering lightweight vehicle manufacturing expertise, honed over decades, and demonstrates the inherent agility and flexibility of our manufacturing operations as we continue to maximise the opportunities afforded by investment in a modular, scalable aluminium architecture,” JLR said.
Using aluminium means the XF is 80kg lighter than its nearest competitor and around 190kg lighter than its predecessor.
“This is the largest single investment in the history of the Castle Bromwich site and highlights a remarkable turnaround in the fortunes of the company’s West Midlands manufacturing operations which were earmarked for consolidation during the height of the global economic downturn.
“Today, sales of Jaguar cars built at the Castle Bromwich plant are almost double that of five years ago thanks to a refreshed and exhilarating model range which also includes the XJ and F-Type.”
JLR on Wednesday announced it would double the operational footprint of its Advanced Design and Engineering Centre in Whitley, Coventry.
It is also contributing GBP150m National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) which will open in spring 2017, providing a technology hub for its own advanced research team and collaborative partners from the supply chain and academia.
JLR CEO Ralf Speth said: “Jaguar Land Rover continues to demonstrate its unwavering support to the British automotive industry through sustained investments in advanced research, technology and innovation.
“This investment, made here in the heartland of our UK business operations, signals the confidence we have in this region to support the creation, engineering and manufacturing of ultra-low emission, premium British products, today and in the future.
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