British PM visits JLR’s engine facility at Wolverhampton

David Cameron, the British prime minister, visited the Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) Engine Manufacturing Centre at Wolverhampton, West Midlands on Friday, February 14. He was given a tour of the new plant where he saw the ongoing installation of the manufacturing equipment first hand.

JLR’s engine manufacturing centre is the first new facility that built from the ground up. Based at the heart of the UK, it is located between JLR’s three other manufacturing sites at Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull. Almost 1,400 jobs will be created by the time the plant reaches its full capacity.

Representing an investment of more than £500 million (Rs 5,176 crore), the plant will manufacture JLR’s most advanced engines ever. Designed and developed at its Product Development Centre in Whitley, this new family of premium, lightweight, low-friction, low-emission four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines will be manufactured for future JLR vehicles.

Cameron said: “This is a great British success story.” JLR’s executive director, Mike Wright commented, “Our world-class new facility incorporates the latest technologies meeting the highest standards of production and demonstrates our continued commitment to UK manufacturing.”

The plant that has almost 100,000 square metres of internal floor area comprises three manufacturing halls – one for machining the cylinder heads, cylinder blocks and crankshafts, one for assembling diesel engines and one for assembling petrol engines. The first engines will come off the assembly line in early 2015. 

In January 2014, JLR sold 39,106 vehicles, up 12 percent versus the same period last year. Sales were up 39 percent in China, 17 percent in North America and 1 percent in Asia Pacific. Europe and the UK saw a slight drop in January sales due to the launch of some special edition models in the corresponding month of 2013. Other overseas markets were up by 8 percent.

In India, the company is ramping up operations in India with more investments in its dealer network and local production. Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar-Land Rover, confirmed at last week’s Auto Expo 2014 that the XJ sedan would be the third model to be produced in India. However, our sister publication, Autocar India, has learnt that the next model in line to be locally built in India will be the 2014 Evoque with the nine-speed ZF gearbox. This vehicle made its India debut at the Auto Expo. The Evoque, which is currently imported into India, attracts cumulative taxes of around 170 percent making it difficult for JLR to price this stylish SUV competitively.