Hotfire plant gathers speed

JaguarLandRover (JLR) is reinforcing its commitment to UK manufacturing by increasing the investment in its new engine manufacturing centre at site i54 in Wolverhampton to more than £500 million.  

The company will invest £2.75 billion in product creation during the year to support its ambitious growth plans that will see the business introduce eight new or refreshed products during the year.

The new engine manufacturing centre is essential to support the company's long-term strategic growth plans. As reported here it will be the home for Hotfire, a new generation of technologically advanced, lightweight four-cylinder low emission diesel and petrol engines. (See also one of our exclusive popular posts ‘Cut-and-pasteHotfire engine plant for JLR’.)

 Reinforcing JLR's commitment to manufacturing and innovation in the UK, the company will increase its investment in the facility to in excess of £500 million. This will almost double the number of highly skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs at the plant, taking the total number of people who will be employed at the site to almost 1,400.

The company's chief executive officer, Dr Speth said: ‘Jaguar Land Rover's new engine manufacturing centre in the UK is a clear demonstration of our business strategy guiding our investment plans. Not only does it bring our engine supply back to our production doorstep, but it gives us significant new resource as we continue to innovate with new products and markets.

The new Hotfire family of engines is under development at JLR's advanced research and development facility. It will strengthen and expand the company's engine range supporting future product development plans.

JLR claims it will deliver high performance engines with class-leading levels of refinement and significant reductions in vehicle emissions, allowing it to compete even more effectively and attract new customers globally.

The state-of-the-art facility is the first in the company's history to be entirely designed and specified by JLR. At almost 100,000 square metres, the plant will include an engine testing centre alongside the manufacturing and assembly halls.

The building will meet the highest standards of sustainable production and will feature a variety of energy efficiency technologies. The new engine manufacturing centre will open later this year with the first engines coming off the production line in 2015.

                         Eight products planned for 2013

Jaguar Land Rover will invest £2.75 billion in product development which will support the launch of eight new innovative products to help achieve its business growth strategy.

These include the Jaguar F-Type and the introduction of the world's first nine-speed gearbox in its Land Rover product line-up.

JLR claims it is the UK's largest investor in automotive research and development.  Exporting 80% of its vehicles, Jaguar Land Rover's success has been worth about £25 billion in export revenues for the UK economy in the last two years.                ∎