Jaguar Land Rover to build new UK plant

Global car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed that a new £355 million engine plant will be constructed in Wolverhampton.

The announcement is good news for the local economy, and it is suspected that the plant will generate up to 750 new jobs for local inhabitants.

Jaguar Land Rover have secured around a £10 million financial support package from the Government, as the project will help the coalition’s plans to stimulate growth by rebalancing the economy towards manufacturing once again.

Over two years, the engine plant is to be built at the 120 hectare i54 business park in Wolverhampton – a favourable location for the car makers due to it being a designated enterprise zone. Construction is due to begin in early 2012 and the factory is expected to be operational by 2014.

Jaguar Land Rover’s chief executive Dr Ralf Speth told the BBC that, “We expect the engine manufacturing facility to create up to 750 highly-skilled engineering and manufacturing posts at Jaguar Land Rover, along with hundreds more highly-skilled manufacturing jobs in the supply chain and the wider UK economy.”

Speth also said that the factory would be crucial for the company to be able to continue offering high performance engines, whilst continually ensuring that emissions are kept as low as possible. He paid tribute to the ‘strong support’ from the Government, trade unions, local MPs, local authorities and the company’s own employees.

Tata Motors purchased Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008, soon after which the UK automotive market went into reverse. The company was pushed into a loss, and they considered closing other UK plants.

Since then, the market has picked up – Jaguar Land Rover have already employed 3,000 staff this year and a record of 350 graduates, now employing around 21,000 people in the UK.

The main reason for the new plant is to enable the company to take more control over their engine production to satisfy a sales boom in Asia. Currently engines are largely supplied by Ford, but Jaguar Land Rover wish to become less dependent.

The Guardian, BBC News, Staffordshire County Council