Magna has opened an aluminium casting facility in Telford, England, which will supply structural castings to Jaguar Land Rover, a leading vehicle manufacturer in the UK and Magna’s long-time customer. The new facility is approximately 225,000 square feet and is expected to employ 300 people. Magna management was joined by Jaguar Land Rover executives and members of local government to celebrate the opening of the facility on May 8.

The new facility will use Magna’s patented vacuum die-casting process. The advanced lightweight aluminium castings help maximise strength and stiffness and minimise weight, which improves fuel economy, safety and handling. As electrified and hybrid powertrains become more common in the automotive industry, high-pressure aluminium castings can be a key factor in reducing overall vehicle weight.

“With this new aluminium casting facility, we have established a world-class center of excellence to bring the most advanced structural casting technologies to the U.K.,” said John Farrell, president of Cosma International.

Ben Goater, general manager of Cosma Castings U.K. said: “The manufacture of aluminum castings is an important building block for the next generation of all-aluminum and multi-material vehicle architectures.”

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. Magna now has nine manufacturing facilities with more than 2,200 employees throughout the U.K.