Jag ‘major investment’ plan
JAGUAR Land Rover is reported to be close to announcing a major investment in advanced manufacturing in the UK.
The Coventry car maker has remained tight-lipped on any such move but an announcement is set to be made in early March, according to the BBC.
Such a move would contradict reports that suggest Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, the Indian conglomerate Tata, is contemplating selling the car maker, or at least a stake in it.
The BBC said that sources close to the company and the Government told the broadcaster that news of fresh investment in the UK was imminent.
After a period of sustained growth Jaguar Land Rover has experienced some tough times of late.
In January it announced it would be cutting 4,500 jobs as part of a £2.5 billion cost saving programme.
Since then the car maker posted losses of £273m for the final quarter of 2018.
Jaguar Land Rover’s difficulties have been attributed to a combination of factors.
They include falling sales in China, which had become its biggest market, declining demand for diesel vehicles and uncertainty over Brexit.
Despite its current difficulties the company is in the midst of a busy schedule of new product launches and is also pushing ahead with its electrification strategy.
Last week it unveiled a new version of the Jaguar XE and before that the wraps were taken off the all-new Range Rover Evoque. The countdown has also started to the reveal of the all-new Land Rover Defender. That is expected to take place towards the end of the year with the new Defender going on sale in 2020. Heavily revised versions of the Jaguar XF and Land Rover Discovery Sport are also set to be launched this year. The car maker is also pushing ahead to increase its electric vehicle offering and said it wants to have electrified versions of all its models available by 2020. These would include a range of hybrids as well as all-electric vehicles. The car maker currently only produces one all-electric car - the Jaguar I-Pace.
It is also building a battery factory at Hams Hall in Warwickshire and has plans to expand its engine plant near Wolverhampton to produce electric motors.
Any investment announcement by Jaguar Land Rover would come as welcome news in a challenging time for the UK automotive sector.
Honda recently announced it would be closing its UK factory in Swindon, not long after Nissan said it was doing a u-turn over plans to build the next Nissan X-Trail in Sunderland.
The latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed that sales of UK-made cars fell 72% in January, compared to the same month in 2018.