JLR commits to teh UK with a massive investment in plant, assembly and new models.

• £600m investment to support R&D and manufacturing operations at UK’s largest premium vehicle manufacturer.
• Investment made across three sites: Castle Bromwich Advanced Manufacturing Plant, Whitley Advanced Design and Development Centre and the National Automotive Innovation Centre.  
• More than £400m committed at Castle Bromwich to support the introduction of Jaguar’s latest model, the all-new XF.
• £320m, 74,500 sq m aluminium body shop constructed - the largest single investment in the history of the Castle Bromwich site.
• Introduction of the new model completes Castle Bromwich’s transformation into a global centre of excellence for lightweight vehicle manufacturing.

Jaguar Land Rover has today reaffirmed its long-term commitment to the West Midlands, with confirmation of a £600m investment in the region to support product creation and advanced vehicle manufacturing. The largest single investment has been made at the company’s Castle Bromwich plant, where over £400m has been spent in new and upgraded facilities to support the introduction of the all-new Jaguar XF.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO 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.”

Amongst the most notable investments at the Castle Bromwich site, in support of the all-new XF, is a £320m state-of-the art aluminium body shop which completes the site’s transformation into a global centre of excellence for lightweight vehicle manufacturing. 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. These models together have seen the iconic motoring marque rank as the highest achieving automotive luxury brand in the United States for customer satisfaction and second amongst all automotive nameplates in the J.D. Power 2014 Initial Quality Study (IQS) and Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study.

The introduction of the all-new XF completes an all-aluminium line-up at the Midlands plant which has committed significant investment to every stage of the manufacturing process. £16m has been spent on a new blanker line which will allow the plant to turn coils of aluminium into ‘blank sheets’ that will be pressed into body panels and parts on a new Aida £50m press line which is currently under construction. This line will feed in to the new £320m body shop, the most flexible and versatile of its kind throughout Jaguar Land Rover, capable of switching between Jaguar’s entire range of models mid-production. Finally £30m has been invested in significantly upgrading the trim and final assembly hall.

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 Jaguar Land Rover’s manufacturing operations as it continues to maximise the opportunities afforded by investment in a modular, scalable aluminium architecture.

The application of this industry leading technology as resulted in the all-new XF being 80kg lighter than its nearest competitor and 190kgs* lighter than its predecessor - a car that redefined Jaguar’s design language and resulted in it becoming the most awarded Jaguar model in history.

Jaguar Land Rover affirms its commitment to the UK

In addition to the Castle Bromwich announcement today, Jaguar Land Rover has also confirmed this week that it will double the operational footprint of its Advanced Design and Engineering Centre in Whitley, Coventry. This multi-million pound investment will house highly-skilled product development engineers and will support the company’s creation of high technology, ultra-low emission vehicles.

To keep the UK and Jaguar Land Rover at the forefront of global innovation, the firm is also investing in the £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) which will open in Spring 2017, providing a state-of-the-art technology hub for Jaguar Land Rover’s advanced research team and collaborative partners from the supply chain and academia.

*Ingenium four-cylinder diesel 163PS with manual transmission

New National Automotive Innovation Centre will give JLR a huge step into the future of automotive innovation.

• £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) will open in Spring 2017, providing a state-of-the-art technology hub for Jaguar Land Rover’s advanced research team and collaborative partners from  the supply chain and academia
• To keep the UK and Jaguar Land Rover at the forefront of global innovation, the team will develop the vehicles and personal mobility solutions of the future
• The NAIC will focus on inspiring the next generation of engineers – from schoolchildren to undergraduates. This will develop the skills required to keep the UK globally competitive
• The development of the new NAIC facility will complement Jaguar Land Rover’s product research and development  centres in Gaydon and Whitley
• NAIC is a partnership between the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG),  Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) and UK Government’s Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE)

Mr Ratan Tata (Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group), Mr Cyrus Mistry (Chairman of Tata Group) and Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer Dr Ralf Speth joined Professor Lord Bhattacharyya (Chairman and Founder of WMG) to unveil the foundation stone for the new National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) at the University of Warwick today.

The ceremony marked the formal launch of the construction phase for the £150 million project which will create a new, cutting-edge UK automotive technology, innovation and education centre.

The 33,000 sq m facility, which is due to open in Spring 2017, will become the hub for Jaguar Land Rover’s advanced research and will boast cutting-edge workshops, laboratories, virtual engineering suites and advanced powertrain facilities, equipped to enable a full range of design, visualisation and prototyping activities.

The development of the NAIC project is the next stage in Jaguar Land Rover's strategy to develop its global R&D and engineering capability. Jaguar Land Rover today employs more than 8000 engineers and designers in the UK and is investing more than ever before in new technologies, skills and facilities. In the financial year 2015/16 the business will invest up to £3.8bn in product creation.

Dr Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “The National Automotive Innovation Centre will serve as a generator of new skills and new thinking, providing a perfect, collaborative environment in which to learn, research and develop the designs and technologies that will shape the vehicles and personal mobility solutions of the future.

“As well as helping Jaguar Land Rover create key technologies that will deliver new experiences for our customers; smarter, safer and more connected cars and a low-carbon future, the centre will deliver wider benefits to the UK automotive industry. The NAIC will have a significant role inspiring the engineers of tomorrow and will help develop the skills we need the UK to nurture and develop to ensure we remain globally competitive.”

Along with hosting visits from schoolchildren to inspire them to begin a STEM-based career, the NAIC will also start to address the shortage of skilled R&D staff in the automotive supply chain. The aim is to help create a pipeline of people into companies nationwide, including the creation of many apprentices in specific areas of vehicle technology.

“The NAIC builds on the success we have enjoyed as part of our long-standing relationship with WMG at the University of Warwick. This collaboration is our blueprint for how we expand our capabilities when the NAIC opens its doors,” added Dr Speth. “I am delighted that we are now less than two years from realising the long-term strategic vision shared by Mr Ratan Tata and Professor Lord Bhattacharyya for a national hub for automotive innovation and skills.

“Their support and investment in the development of an innovation infrastructure here in the UK will help this country – and Jaguar Land Rover – remain at the forefront of global innovation in manufacturing and engineering for decades to come.”

When the centre opens in 2017, 1,000 highly-skilled people will work at the NAIC. The NAIC will enable Jaguar Land Rover to co-locate 600 of its engineers, researchers and technologists to work collaboratively with academics and R&D specialists from across the automotive supply chain.  Details of the specific research projects that will take place in the NAIC will be announced in due course, but these will be long-term, multi-disciplinary challenges – such as electrification, smart and connected cars and the Human Machine Interface.

The development of the new NAIC facility will complement Jaguar Land Rover’s product research and development centres in Gaydon and Whitley. While the NAIC will become the hub for our advanced research teams, Gaydon and Whitley will continue to be Jaguar Land Rover’s centres of excellence for engineering and product development.