BMW invests further in the UK with Hams Hall developing new engines on brand new production lines.

A large investment programme to develop the BMW Hams Hall engine plant near Birmingham is complete. The production of new three and four-cylinder engines is already being ramped up on brand-new production lines, and over one million components will be machined at the plant for the first time this year as supply extends to other plants in the Group.

The investment project, part of £750 million that has been spent across BMW Group’s UK manufacturing sites, has ensured the Hams Hall site remains a state-of-the-art facility, capable of producing the next generation of engines and securing a long-term future for the plant.

Engines, as well as machined components manufactured at BMW Plant Hams Hall contribute to a range of cars across BMW Group’s product portfolio. This includes MINI – the new Clubman model goes on sale in just a few weeks’ time, as well as the new BMW 7 Series, also launched this month.

Plant Director, Markus Fallboehmer says: “The transformation in our plant has been huge. Over the last few years we have completely re-developed our two main production areas and installed over 600 brand-new pieces of equipment and machinery. While a high level of technology and automation ensures our plant remains a state-of-the-art facility, the ergonomics of the workstations where we have more manual input have been carefully thought through and adjusted to suit each individual member of the team.

“A large investment has also been made in our workforce via a number of training programmes and opportunities for people to upskill and take on new job roles. We have changed the make-up of our workforce as well with over 100 people securing BMW contracts, some of whom were previously working for us on a temporary basis. Looking further ahead to the future, we have trebled the number of apprentices training with us to ensure we have a strong, skilled workforce for many years to come.”

Development of the site is another piece of the jigsaw in BMW Group’s global strategy for engine production. The Hams Hall facility is now operating alongside other plants in Germany and Austria, all producing the same new family of next generation engines.

“Our new engine family of highly efficient three, four and six-cylinder engines have a standard design, a high number of similar parts and a uniform process for manufacture,” explains Ilka Horstmeier, who heads up BMW Group’s global production network for engines and electrified powertrain. “This gives us a large amount of flexibility and means we can optimise production between each of our manufacturing locations and respond quickly to changes in customer demand or market developments. The investment in Hams Hall has enabled the plant to grow and play an ever-increasingly important role in the production of these latest engines.”

Production of a small number of new engines was first introduced at Hams Hall last year. Three-cylinder BMW TwinPower Turbo technology 1.5-litre petrol engines are hand-built exclusively at Hams Hall on a special production line for the BMW i8, the first purpose-built, plug-in hybrid sports car. This engine has already contributed to a series of award-wins for the revolutionary vehicle as well as two class and an overall win at the International Engine of the Year awards.

Overall, the new Efficient Dynamics high-tech engine family includes petrol and diesel engines, all employing TwinPower Turbo technology and ranging from 1.5 to 3.0 litres. With different power ratings, the engines can be adapted to a variety of vehicle concepts. Commonality across the engines makes it possible to be extremely flexible in achieving significant efficiences at high production volumes, as well as being able to produce additional special versions of the engines at relatively small volumes across the network of engine plants.

To get a glimpse inside the Hams Hall engine plant, tune in to the new BBC2 series ‘Building Cars Live’, presented by James May, Kate Humble and Ant Anstead. The Hams Hall plant is one of the key suppliers to MINI production at the Oxford-based vehicle manufacturing plant that will feature in the programme this autumn.

The Jaguar XS, the ACTUAL CAR, NO XF disguise.

This is the long-awaited Jaguar small saloon car, codenamed: X760. We’ve spied Jaguar testing elements of the car in hacked-about XF test mules, but that’s all over now.

This is the actual car, and CAR is first to clap eyes on it. Jaguar is testing the X760 on British roads – and these are the first pictures.

Jaguar X760 – the styling

It’s clear this is no shrunken XF. The compact front overhang and chopped backside give the baby Jag an agile, dynamic look in profile. The slim LED headlights and grille are low-set for a snouty feline face, but the bonnet actually rises quite high – blame pedestrian impact legislation for that feature.

Jaguar has disguised the car’s roofline with a fake rear section to make its new baby look boxier than it really is. Don’t be fooled by the Skoda Superb rear pillar, however. A closer look at that steeply raked rear screen reveals the true nature of that seductive roofline, tailing off to a pert bootlid with a small upturned lip at its edge.

Taillights wrap around into the sides of the car, as per the XF saloon and F-type sports car. The bold ‘shelf’ down the car’s flanks hides a more subtle styling line that fires down the side of the car from a front wing vent, again following F-type cues.

So it should be a looker, the baby Jag?

Indeed – it’s based on the same ‘iQ Al’ aluminium platform as Jaguar’s forthcoming 4x4, previewed by the C-X17 SUV concept shown at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show (pictured, right). The well-received design will donate many cues to the X760, including the muscular bonnet, squared-off grille, and big alloys – an Ian Callum classic formula.

Jaguar says it hasn’t pursued a BMW 4-series Gran Coupe/Audi A5 Sportback template for the X760 – a true four-door ‘coupe’ could arrive later instead, along with a drop-top X760 cabriolet.

What else do we know about the Jaguar X760?

The range will stretch from a four-cylinder turbodiesel good for 99g/km to a supercharged 550bhp V8 ‘R’ model that’s capable of 186mph. Using aluminium rather than steel for the body saves Jaguar around 100kg, allowing the British-built engines from Jaguar’s new £500m Wolverhampton facility to offer optimum frugality and performance.

The entry-level car is purported to cost less than £30,000 – a BMW 320d saloon makes the cut at £28,410.

And no, it won’t be called X-type: the badge of the folly from last decade conjures up too many negative connotations. With Jaguar looking to build on its 19 per cent sales rise in 2013, which saw it sell 425,000 cars, a fresh start with a new name is needed.

With a sumptuous XJ-inspired cabin, refreshing styling and massive investment in chassis and powertrain tech, the new baby Jag will enter the small sports saloon party with a bang in late 2014. Over to you, Jaguar…

With thanks to CAR MAGAZINE

By Ollie Kew and Phil McNamara

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JLR launches recruitment drive for new Power plant facility in Wolverhampton.

• Jaguar Land Rover launches campaign to recruit world-class manufacturing team at its new Engine Manufacturing Centre
• Phased campaign to recruit circa 600 people in the next four years
• Working in close partnership with local councils, colleges and Jobcentre Plus, a bespoke skills development programme for the unemployed has been created

Jaguar Land Rover has launched the first significant campaign to recruit 1,400 employees at its new state-of-the-art Engine Manufacturing Centre based at the i54 South Staffordshire business park near Wolverhampton. The first phase will see the creation of in the region of 600 manufacturing roles at the plant in the next four years.

Jaguar Land Rover is investing more than £500 million in its new Engine Manufacturing Centre bringing engine supply back to its production doorstep providing significant new resource to support continued innovation. These roles will be required to support the manufacture of Jaguar Land Rover’s new family of high technology, low emission engines. The team will be responsible for the assembly of engine components, operation of the plant’s world class manufacturing equipment, supporting tool changes and material line feed.

Trevor Leeks, the Engine Manufacturing Centre’s new Operations Director said, “Our new Engine Manufacturing Centre is a significant strand of Jaguar Land Rover’s global growth ambitions and it is critical that we have a world-class manufacturing team at the heart of our new plant.

“We are entering the next phase of the programme with our small team moving onsite just last week. Today, we are starting to build our operational team for the future with the launch of our recruitment campaign.

“We are looking for dedicated, committed and passionate people to join the Jaguar Land Rover team at the Engine Manufacturing Centre.”

Jaguar Land Rover has worked in partnership with Wolverhampton City Council, Staffordshire County Council and South Staffordshire Council to create a tailored training programme for local unemployed people to develop the skills required at the plant. The six-week training programme will cover topics such as enhanced literacy & numeracy skills, how to approach competency based interviews, team exercises and interview preparation. The programme will be managed and co-ordinated by JobCentre Plus across Wolverhampton and Staffordshire.

The Engine Manufacturing Centre’s team currently stands at around 100 people including 18 apprentices and 6 graduates. In addition to the manufacturing roles at the plant, there are also additional opportunities available in a range of engineering and supervisory roles.

To apply for a position at the Engine Manufacturing Centre, please visit: www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com.

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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