Wolverhampton plant getting ready to produce new range of Jaguar Land Rover engines.

The first engine scheduled for production in the new $750 million Jaguar Land Rover engine plant in Wolverhampton, England, next year is a four-cylinder diesel.

About 18 months later, a turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine rolls down the line.

For Jaguar Land Rover, the two new engines will mark the first time since the 1990s that each brand will manufacture an engine of its own design. The new plant is another milestone in each brand's long struggle to take charge of its destiny.

"When we manufacture our own engines ourselves, it gives us an additional degree of freedom," said Wolfgang Ziebart, 63, a 23-year BMW manufacturing and product development veteran, who took over as Jaguar Land Rover's group engineering director in August.

The company is saying little about the character and design of the new engines. But here's what has leaked out from published reports and the company: The engines will be light, powerful and, for a luxury manufacturer, surprisingly small, about 2.0 liters.

They will be loaded with the latest engine advances, such as turbocharging, direct fuel injection and variable valve timing -- and almost certainly other innovations.

Jaguar has a rich history of designing powerful engines with trend-setting combustion chambers and other features that helped establish the brand's performance image.

Land Rover's classic diesel engines, while not overly powerful, are known to be very durable.

Although Jaguar Land Rover has not confirmed any vehicles yet for the new engines, they almost certainly will be used in the new small Jaguar sedan announced at the Frankfurt auto show in September and in smaller Land Rover models, such as the LR2 and Range Rover Evoque.

The company hired powertrain manufacturing experts, Ziebart said, to help set up the new engine plant, which is being done now. "The machinery is moving in, the first machines for the block and heads are being installed. We will manufacture the first prototype engines by spring next year and first [production] engines come at end of next year."

3 cylinders?

Ziebart said the company is considering other engines for the plant, including a three-cylinder gasoline engine in the 1.5-liter range.

Ziebart said the reason to build a three-cylinder -- which would cost more than a four-cylinder -- is to reduce fuel consumption. A three-cylinder diesel is also possible, he said.

"If we could come up with similar performance as the four-cylinder, I think this could be an alternative, too," Ziebart said.

He said Jaguar Land Rover did not lose the capability to design engines as corporate parents changed over the years.

After passing through various corporate owners in the 1980s and 1990s, both brands were stripped of their engine plants.

Jaguar hasn't manufactured an engine of its own design in one of its own plants since previous owner Ford Motor Co. closed the old Radford plant in Coventry, England, in 1997.

Land Rover's last in-house engine was the Td5 diesel of 1998. For decades, Land Rover's main engine was a hand-me-down General Motors-designed aluminum V-8, and there was a series of engines bought from suppliers, such as Ford, BMW, Powertrain Ltd., and Perkins Engines Co.

Sales of both brands, now owned by India's Tata Motors, are on a tear.

Jaguar Land Rover's combined sales in the United States were up 19 percent through October on the strength of such new vehicles as the Range Rover Evoque compact SUV and the Jaguar F-Type sports car.

Last year, Jaguar Land Rover set an all-time global sales record of 357,000 units, a figure the company will easily top in 2013.

Jaguar Land Rover delivered a record 102,000 vehicles globally in the third quarter alone. The company's sales might be higher had an engine shortage in 2010 not slowed growth.

The Range Rover Evoque is likely to get the new engines.

Rare opportunity

Horsepower, torque and fuel economy ratings on the new four-cylinder engines are not yet finalized, but Ziebart said engineers are making the most of a rare opportunity to design a new family of engines.

"You can be sure if we make our own engines, they will excel in technology," he said.

"We will probably set a new benchmark in terms of engine efficiency, weight and power per liter, and so on."

Like its competitors, Jaguar and Land Rover are under pressure to increase fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Ziebart said.

The plan to do so involves moving to smaller, high-performing engines, transmissions with more than six speeds and lightweight bodies -- the same strategy adopted by BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other luxury brands.

"The good thing is that Jaguar and Land Rover are positioned at the high end of the market, so we can afford those technologies," Ziebart said. "Others who have to work in cost-constrained markets don't have that freedom."

Flexible manufacturing

Ziebart said that after production begins at Wolverhampton, Jaguar Land Rover will still buy some of its engines from suppliers. Its contract with Ford, for example, expires in 2020. Ford makes Jaguar Land Rover's V-8 and V-6 gasoline and diesel engines.

The new engine plant's volume is expected to reach 300,000 units a year eventually.

Ziebart confirmed that the plant will have two lines, one for gasoline and one for diesel, but that both engines will share the same architecture.

Blocks with common bore spacing, crankshafts and oil pans, for example, simplify manufacturing and reduce purchasing costs. The plant will be flexible and can change the production mix based on consumer demand.

At least one supplier, BorgWarner Inc., is building a plant nearby to manufacture turbochargers for Wolverhampton.

Jaguar Land Rover, Ziebart said, has no plans to build its own transmissions and will continue to buy them from suppliers.

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