Engineering news
Jaguar Land Rover announced that it has invested £370 million to upgrade its UK manufacturing facilities and increase productivity as it prepares for the launch of its new Range Rover model.
As part of the multi-million investment package, JLR has installed a new aluminium body shop for the Range Rover at the Solihull plant, near Birmingham. The improved body shop will deliver enhanced performance and fuel economy, lowering CO2 emissions.
Upgrades to paint-applications technologies, trim assembly, warehousing and company’s first customer handover centre were also made possible by the investment project.
Sales of the fourth-generation Range Rover will begin later his month following a three-year engineering project which has sustained 1,000 UK jobs in design, product development and manufacturing.
Jaguar Land Rover chief executive officer, Dr Ralf Speth, said: “As the UK’s leading automotive investor in research and development we are proud of the work that has gone into developing the new technologies and innovations to make the new Range Rover possible. Through a £370m investment in our manufacturing facilities we have been able to build the world’s first SUV with lightweight all-aluminium construction, a car that is 20% lighter, with fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 22%.
“Jaguar Land Rover is firing on all cylinders, generating export revenues of close to £8 billion a year as we meet demand for a model-range that justifies continued expansion in our UK facilities and elsewhere.”
As part of its recent recent expansion and investment plans JLR has:
- Opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Solihull
- Begun work on a £355 million engine factory near Wolverhampton
- Moved to 24-hour production at Halewood on Merseyside to meet demand for the Range Rover Evoque
- Created 1,100 new jobs at the Castle Bromwich plant
The company is currently spending in excess of £1.3 billion with suppliers globally, £800 million of this sum is invested in the UK alone, supporting an estimated 190,000 jobs in the UK supply chain.
Customers will begin taking delivery of the new vehicles in early 2013.
