- 1,700 new jobs to be created at Solihull to support product range expansion.
- Jaguar to benefit from £1.5 billion product creation investment.
- Jaguar Land Rover to extend leadership in aluminium and lightweight technologies with all‑new aluminum monocoque architecture.
- New technology showcased in C‑X17 Jaguar sports crossover concept vehicle.
- Jaguar mid‑sized premium sports sedan to lead product introductions from 2015.
Frankfurt, Germany: Jaguar Land Rover today announced an investment approaching £1.5 billion to introduce an all‑new technically‑advanced aluminium vehicle architecture in forthcoming models. To support this strengthening of the Jaguar product portfolio 1,700 new jobs will be created in the UK at our advanced manufacturing facility in Solihull.
Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer, announced the major strategy at the Frankfurt Motor Show to deliver an enhanced range of models for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands in new segments and markets.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr Speth said: "Today's announcement signals Jaguar Land Rover's ambitions to push the boundaries and redefine premium car ownership. At Jaguar Land Rover we place the customer at the heart of everything we do and the introduction of a world class all‑new aluminium vehicle architecture means we will be more competitive, flexible and efficient delivering exciting new products for our customers around the world."
He continued: "Jaguar Land Rover is a business driven by design, technology and innovation and this investment and level of job creation is yet further evidence of our commitment to advancing the capability of the UK automotive sector and its supply chain."
The first new model to utilise this innovative architecture will be an all‑new mid‑sized sports sedan from Jaguar. Launched in 2015, it will be the most efficient, advanced and refined premium sports sedan ever seen in the C/D segment.
This vehicle will feature the first engine to be built at Jaguar Land Rover's new £500m Engine Manufacturing Centre. The plant will build the new family of high‑output, fuel efficient petrol and diesel engines for Jaguar Land Rover.
The new 1,700 jobs at the Solihull site in the Midlands will bring the total number of UK manufacturing jobs announced by Jaguar Land Rover over the last three years to almost 11,000.
Jaguar also revealed its first ever sports crossover concept vehicle ‑ the C‑X17 ‑ which was created as a design study to introduce the all‑new aluminium monocoque architecture. The C‑X17 concept illustrates the diversity of vehicles that could be produced using the architecture such as the four‑seater sports crossover.
The inherent flexibility of this all‑new technology will enable the Jaguar Land Rover business to not only enter but aggressively compete in exciting new segments, creating new markets for both brands and deliver a wider range of compelling products tailored specifically for our demanding customers.
For Jaguar, this will be the basis on which an exciting range of future Jaguars will be built. A modular and scalable vehicle architecture which will be high‑strength, lightweight and incorporate innovative efficiency technologies.
UK Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "Jaguar Land Rover has been experiencing great success over the last couple of years but this ground‑breaking project takes Jaguar onto the next level.
"This all‑aluminium architecture project typifies the type of innovative and high value R&D that the UK excels in and Government is supporting through the automotive industrial strategy."
In order to fully realise the potential of this vehicle architecture Jaguar Land Rover will significantly increase spend with the supply base. This latest announcement from the UK's largest premium automotive manufacturer builds on a sustained programme of continued reinvestment.
Ends
For more information, please visit www.newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com or contact:
Kay Francis, Director Global Corporate Communications
M: +44 7867 537 779 E: kfranci1@jaguarlandrover.com
Ken McConomy, Head of Corporate Relations
M: +44 7714 725 236 E: kmcconom@jaguarlandrover.com
Notes to editors
Jaguar Land Rover has created circa 9,000 new jobs in the UK, plus the 1,700 announced today, since 2011. This latest news brings the total number of manufacturing jobs in the West Midlands announced by Jaguar Land Rover to 6,000 in the past two years.
- Solihull ‑ 3,500
- Castle Bromwich ‑ 1,100
- Engine Manufacturing Centre ‑ 1,400
- Halewood ‑ 2,500
- 1000 engineers
- 1,200 other
It is estimated these new jobs will create an additional 24,000 positions in the supply chain.
This capital investment includes an all‑new architecture and the construction of a state of the art aluminium body shop and trim and final assembly hall.
Jaguar Land Rover has three advanced manufacturing facilities in the UK ‑ in Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, and Halewood on Merseyside.
Jaguar Land Rover is building its first state of the art advanced Engine Manufacturing Centre near Wolverhampton, investing more than £500m and creating almost 1,400 new jobs (announced in March 2013).
Jaguar Land Rover's Solihull manufacturing facility has been home to Land Rover since production commenced in 1948 and currently builds the Defender, Discovery, All‑New Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
In May 2012, Solihull moved to a three‑shift, 24‑hour production operation to meet the global demand for products built at the plant.
In 2012, Jaguar Land Rover sold 357,773 vehicles, up 30%.
Jaguar Land Rover retail sales for the month of August 2013 up 28% and up 16% year to date.
In the 12 months to 31 March 2013, Jaguar Land Rover generated profit before tax of £1.675bn with revenues of £15.8bn.
Jaguar Land Rover will invest circa £2.75bn in its product creation and facilities in the financial year to March 2014.
Jaguar Land Rover has been pioneering innovative use of lightweight aluminium architecture since the launch of the Jaguar XJ in 2003. The most recent examples of this can been seen in the body construction of Jaguar F‑TYPE and all‑new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
Jaguar Land Rover acknowledges the continued support of its stakeholders in support of our growth plans, in particular, our workforce, the UK Government, including supporting our broader investment [through the Regional Growth Fund], and the efforts of Local Government to enable the expansion of our sites.