Vauxhall Heritage Centre opens as usual, for just ONE day a year, do not miss this one.

• Luton-based Heritage Centre opens doors to public in June
• Free admission for all

Vauxhall Motors’ 113 years of history will be laid bare next month as its ever-popular Heritage Centre Open Day is confirmed for 2016.

On Sunday, June 12 Vauxhall’s 73-strong collection of vehicles, covering every decade since the company started building cars in 1903, will be open for families and enthusiasts to explore. And best of all, admission is free.

At this year’s event Vauxhall will be marking two anniversaries: 50 years since the first Viva HB drove off Ellesmere Port’s production line, and 30 years since the last Bedford commercial vehicle was manufactured. Supporting this, an early SL-model HB will be on display, as well as two CVs that bookended Bedford production: a 1931 2-ton truck and two CFs – a one-off electric model, and a near concours production panel van.

Two new additions to the collection will also be on show. Completing a set of the first five sporting Astras is a 2009 VXR Nürburgring, which will join our two GTEs, Mk. 3 GSi and Mk. 4 888 Coupe. And at the opposite end of the spectrum, a 1949 Wyvern L-type also makes its debut at the Open Day. This car – the only left-hooker in the collection – makes a welcome return to the town of its birth after 67 years pounding the roads of Portugal and Holland.

The breadth and quality of Vauxhall’s Heritage Collection is near-unique, with most of the cars roadworthy and maintained by a small team, led by Andy Boddy, Senior Vehicle Restorer. A majority of the cars were also built in Luton, at the famous Kimpton Road plant.

Vauxhall’s Heritage Centre Open Day will run from 10am to 4pm. Refreshments will be available throughout the day, and parking is free. The Heritage Centre is situated behind Vauxhall’s Head Office on Park Street, Luton LU1 3HG.

Vauxhall Heritage Centre opens as usual, for just ONE day a year, and this year is the one to go to.

• Heritage Centre Open Day on Sunday 14^th June 2015
• Free entry for all visitors
• Celebrating 40 years of Cavalier and Chevette
• 25 years of Lotus Carlton

Vauxhall will be showcasing its collection of historic cars to the public for one day only on Sunday 14^th June, from 10am until 4pm.

Based at the Heritage Centre in Park Street, Luton, visitors will be able to view the company’s collection for free, including over 60 veteran, vintage and post-war Vauxhalls from 1903 to modern times, as well as a number of unique concept cars.

This year, the Vauxhall Heritage Centre’s Open Day will highlight two important milestones in the history of Vauxhall. For 2015, we’re celebrating 40 years since the ground-breaking Cavalier was launched in the UK, which set a new precedent for family cars and became an iconic model for Vauxhall.

Also celebrating its 40th anniversary is the Chevette, based on Vauxhall’s first adoption of a GM world-car platform. In a modern world full of popular superminis, the Chevette forged the way for a new generation of impressive small vehicles and was instrumental in reviving the Vauxhall brand.

And if that wasn’t enough, Vauxhall’s Lotus Carlton will be celebrating its 25^th anniversary. It was famed for being the world’s fastest four-door saloon at 176mph.

The open day will run from 10am to 4pm with food and refreshments on sale, as well as entertainment including pedal cars and face painting for children. The day is perfect for all ages of car enthusiasts, and a great way for all the family to celebrate a collection of anniversaries.

JLR invests £100M in new research centre

• Jaguar Land Rover confirms its commitment to research and development in the UK, with a multi-million pound investment in a new technology, innovation and education centre at the University of Warwick
• National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) construction begins September 2014

The facility will open in 2016 and Jaguar Land Rover will double the size of its advanced research team
Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled details of its future plans for advanced research and development in the UK which will now be focused on a new cutting-edge technology, innovation and education centre in Warwick.

The National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) is designed to create a large-scale collaborative research environment. It will bring academics from the UK’s leading universities together with researchers and engineers from Jaguar Land Rover and our supply chain, in a single, multi-purpose, state-of-the-art research facility.

Jaguar Land Rover is the lead partner in the project investing £50m, along with Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC), WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group ) and the UK Government’s Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE).

Construction of the nearly £100m NAIC is scheduled to begin in September 2014 at the University of Warwick.  Around 1000 academics, researchers, technologists and engineers will work in the building, which will feature engineering workshops and laboratories, advanced powertrain facilities and the latest advanced design, visualisation and rapid prototyping technologies.

The development of the new facility, which will complement Jaguar Land Rover’s product creation centres in Gaydon and Whitley, will be co-ordinated by Dr Wolfgang Epple, Jaguar Land Rover’s  Director of Research and Technology. In this new board-level role, Dr Epple is leading Jaguar Land Rover's innovation and advanced research initiatives and has been appointed a Honorary Fellow at WMG.

Dr. Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Investing in collaboration, innovation, research and education is vital if we want to be on a par with our international competitors.  Our future sales success, the success of our global business – and the UK economy – lies in the engineering and innovation that will take place in NAIC.

“Creating a new national focus for automotive research and consolidating Jaguar Land Rover’s growing research and advanced engineering operations in one centre offers us huge potential. With a critical mass of research capability we will put the UK at the very centre of the global automotive industry – with the NAIC at its hub.”

The development of the NAIC project is the next stage in Jaguar Land Rover’s long-term research strategy and builds on the success Jaguar Land Rover has enjoyed as part of its long-standing relationship with WMG at the University of Warwick. Nearly 200 Jaguar Land Rover researchers and engineers are currently based at WMG, collaborating with university experts on a number of projects.

Jaguar Land Rover expects that it will more than double the size of its advanced research team to 500 people by the time the NAIC opens in 2016.

Antony Harper, Jaguar Land Rover’s Head of Research, said: “We will announce the details of the specific research projects on which our NAIC research team will collaborate in due course, but these will be long-term, multi-disciplinary challenges – such as electrification, smart & connected cars and Human Machine Interface – which will help us create some key new technologies that will deliver a low-carbon future.

“These collaborative research programmes will harness the best of UK engineering innovation, and with the extra capability the NAIC gives us, you can expect the number and range of new, fresh innovative ideas that we patent, and then take to production in the future, will increase significantly.”

As well as the skills and knowledge that will be developed within these research projects, NAIC will have a key role in developing the skills of school children and engineering students, who will be able to use NAIC’s laboratories and a dedicated engineering education facility.

Dr. Wolfgang Epple added:  “Economic growth can only be sustained if we and our suppliers can find the right quality and quantity of skilled people.  We need to ensure that we are inspiring people to consider engineering and encourage a passion for science, technology and maths from a young age.

“The NAIC will become a centre of training and skills to help ensure we have enough young people wanting to develop a career in engineering and manufacturing. NAIC will also play a key role in nurturing the next generation of engineers and technologists.”