Engineering news
The firm that makes the iconic London taxi is to build a new £250 million factory, creating up to 1,000 jobs.
The owner of the London Taxi Company (LTC), Chinese manufacturer Geely, said the 85,000sq m site in Coventry will house all of the LTC's research, development and assembly operations. Up to 1,000 new jobs will be created through the investment in the site, which will eventually have the capacity to assemble up to 36,000 vehicles a year.
It is a 10-fold increase on capacity at the company's existing site, which has been home to the London Taxi Company for nearly 70 years.
The company is to develop the next generation London black cab, which will be an ultra low emissions vehicle to comply with new regulations being introduced by the mayor from 2018.
Peter Johansen, vice-president of UK operations for the London Taxi Company, said: "Coventry has been the home of the iconic London Black Cab for nearly 70 years so we are delighted that it will remain so for the next 70 as the London Taxi Company expands and goes from strength to strength.
"We are proud of the company's regional heritage in an area that is steeped in automotive and manufacturing history. Geely's investment in this new facility is testament to the dedication of all those who work at the London Taxi Company and this city's reputation for producing world-class engineers.
"We intend to build vehicles in the vanguard of environmental technology which set new standards for comfort and performance."
The investment is the biggest of its type by a Chinese company in the UK and was backed with funding from the government's Regional Growth Fund.
Li Shufu, founder and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said: "This investment will secure the future of London Taxi Company. Almost two years after we acquired this company - in which we first took a stake in 2006 - it has become an important part of our global automotive strategy.
"Today's announcement symbolises the close business links between China and the UK, which is an attractive market for Chinese inward investment.
"The London Taxi expansion will demonstrate the benefits of Anglo-Chinese partnerships, showing how we can harness our resources, industrial know- how and technology to produce an environmentally-friendly next generation electric and ultra-low emission London Black Cab that China and the UK will be proud of, and which can be a world-beater in export markets."
The first cars are expected to be made at the Ansty Park site in 2017.
Black cabs were first built on the site in 1948, since when more than 130,000 vehicles have been made.
Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover is to invest £600 million to support product creation and advanced vehicle manufacturing.
The largest amount will be at the company's Castle Bromwich plant in the West Midlands where more than £400 million has been spent in new and upgraded facilities to support the introduction of the new Jaguar XF.
Jaguar Land Rover chief executive Dr 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."
JLR said among the most notable investments at the Castle Bromwich site is a £320 million state-of-the art aluminium body shop which completes the site's transformation into a global centre of excellence for lightweight vehicle manufacturing.
The luxury carmaker announced yesterday that it will double its advanced design and engineering centre in Whitley, Coventry under a multi-million pound investment to support the company's creation of high technology, ultra-low emission vehicles.