Magna to set up new aluminium casting plant in the UK

Magna International is to build a new world-class aluminum casting facility in Telford, United Kingdom, to support Jaguar Land Rover, the UK's leading vehicle manufacturer.

The new facility is expected to be approximately 225,000 square feet and will create up to 295 jobs at full capacity. Working with the UK Trade & Investment and the Automotive Investment Organization, along with financial support from the UK Government's Regional Growth Fund, helped to secure this project. Construction is expected to start in the mid-2016.

Once production begins in 2018, the facility will use Magna's innovative high-pressure vacuum die casting process to produce a number of advanced lightweight aluminium castings – a key building block in the next generation all-aluminum and multi-material vehicle architectures. By using these types of castings, Magna says it helps automakers deliver maximum strength and stiffness and minimum weight, ultimately achieving better fuel economy, safety and handling.

"We are excited to work closely with Jaguar Land Rover in the development of this project which will bring the most advanced structural casting technologies to the UK," said John Farrell, president of Cosma International, an operating unit of Magna International.   "As lightweighting continues to be a key technology driver, we are uniquely positioned to help automakers achieve optimal weight savings throughout the vehicle architecture."

Magna, through its Cosma International operating unit, is one of the world's premier suppliers providing a comprehensive range of body, chassis and engineering solutions to automakers around the world.