JAGUAR Land Rover has reaffirmed its long-term committment to the West Midlands with the confirmation of a £600million investment in the region – including a £400million upgrade of the Castle Bromwich plant to support the new Jaguar XF.
The investment could see the creation and retention of thousands of jobs both directly and indirectly across the region through the supply chain.
Amongst the most notable investments at the Castle Bromwich site 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.
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.”
The firm’s other investments in the region this week include £150million in the Warwick University-based 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, as well as the doubling in size of the firm’s Whitley, Coventry site.
Jerry Blackett, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: “JLR investments in Birmingham and Coventry are not only tremendous for jobs prospects in the region but also a welcome confirmation that the company has confidence in the region’s ability to build high-quality vehicles.”
Jaguar Land Rover’s Castle Bromwich site.
