JLR to put millions into UK plants to supercharge investment in electric
JAGUAR Land Rover plans to pump hundreds of millions into UK plants as part of its strategy to electrify its range of cars.
Ralf Speth, chief executive, has pledged that all its models will be available with some form of electric power by 2020, and the investment is part of this drive.
The money will go into building a new battery assembly plant at Hams Hall, near Birmingham, and setting up its existing engine plant in Wolverhampton to make electric drive systems.
JLR has bought in these components, but now wants to bring the work in-house. The move will create battery jobs and guarantee work for staff in the Wolverhampton plant. It is unclear when the UK’S biggest carmaker will announce details of the plans, but JLR has said it wants the Hams Hall plant to be operational and to be producing its own electric drives by next year.
Further investment could come with preparations for a revamped Range Rover at Solihull, after JLR shifted production of its Discovery from the plant to its new site in Slovakia last year. JLR de- clined to comment on timing or size of investments.
The news came as it was announced that Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, the man credited with convincing Tata to buy Jaguar Land Rover, has died at the age of 78 after a short illness.
Known as “Lord B”, he persuaded his friend Ratan Tata, head of the Indian conglomerate, to snap up the car brands in 2008 for £1.5bn.
Lord Bhattacharyya was a huge advocate of British manufacturing, having come to the Midlands from India in 1961 to start a graduate apprenticeship. In 1980 at Margaret Thatcher’s request he set up Warwick Manufacturing Group. He was knighted in 2003.