JLR seeks to generate 10,000 UK jobs

JaguarLandRover (JLR) is hoping to take advantage of a UK government pledge to put battery development and electric vehicles at the heart of its industrial strategy.

JLR to open 300,000/y car plant on Slovakia

JaguarLandRover (JLR) is to build a new manufacturing plant in the city of Nitra in western Slovakia to build aluminium-intensive vehicles from 2018 onwards.

Real-time emission tests bring results

PEMS – portable emissions measurement systems – developed by Horiba Automotive has been used in trials in Brighton, UK in conjunction with Ricardo plc, to assess ‘real world’ emissions from three buses, including a diesel-electric hybrid.

PEMS was developed in response to new requirements for exhaust emissions measurement from vehicles being driven on public roads.

Go-ahead given for Millbrook extension

Planning consent has been given by Bedfordfordshire Council for nearly 25,000 square metres of offices, and research and development space at the Millbrook Proving Ground at Lidlington, Bedforshire.

This is in addition to consent for three new building offering 6,000 square metres of space as the business seeks to establish a technology park on the site.

Ally 2-litre diesel Hotfire breaks cover first

The first Hotfire engine from JaguarLand Rover (JLR) will be a lightweight 2-litre diesel with an aluminium cylinder block.

Hotfire will come to market weighing 80kg less than today’s equivalent engines.

JLR boosts Middle East testing

JaguarLandRover (JLR) has enhanced its Middle East test programme by opening a new engineering test centre in Dubai, UAE, to conduct extreme hot weather vehicle research, development and testing.

With temperatures in the desert typically reaching 48 to 50°C in the summer months, the new 11,120 square feet facility in the Al Barsha area of Dubai, UAE will offer a comprehensive range of tests including durability, calibration and hot weather testing for heat and humidity.

The engineering team at the new centre, which replaces a smaller facility in Dubai, will also test powertrains, chassis and heat and ventilation systems, as well as the off-road and sand driving capability of Land Rover’s unique Terrain Response system.

GM to invest €240 million in testing

Proof that the Millbrook’s Proving Ground’s days are drawing to a close as a permanent General Motors (GM) test facility come with the news that GM will invest €230 million for new testing facilities at its European Product Development Centre at the Opel headquarters in Rüsselsheim and at the proving ground in Dudenhofen.

Rumours have persisted for some time that the famous Millbrook facility in Bedfordshire, UK is to change hands; indeed, it is understood that an announcement only awaits the completion of the lengthy process if due diligence. JaguarLandRover is among companies whose names have been mentioned in connection with this acquisition.

As GM’s investment will be executed in the next three to four years it is to be assumed that GM will continue to hire some of Millbrook’s facilities, including possibly the important test tracks and engineering resources.

Hotfire vital to ‘Baby Jag’ success

The Hotfire engine, to be built by JaguarLandRover at Wolverhampton, will play a vital role in the new ‘Baby Jag’ the company will launch to compete with the BMW’s 3-Series. The engine will be in gasoline and diesel forms and could even appear in different cylinder configurations.

By the time production of the Baby Jag ramps up substantially, production could be reaching 200 cars a day or 1,000 a week – 50,000 a year. Such a figure would help to swell Jaguar’s overall production tally which in the current year should reach 70,000 vehicles compared with around 60,000 last year.

Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s global brand director said at the recent launch of the new Jaguar F-Type sports car: “JaguarLandRover’s aspiration is to be the fourth premium car company in the world.”

£1bn China boost for JaguarLandRover

JAGUARLANDROVER (JLR) has clinched a deal with Chery Automobile to build a new vehicle manufacturing plant near Shanghai, due to open in 2015.

Significantly, the vehicle manufacturing facility at Changshu will be alongside a state-of-the-art research and development facility and a new engine plant that could be modelled on the new engine plant now in the initial stages of construction in Wolverhampton, UK to produce the ‘Hotfire’ engine range.

Chery Automobile is China’s sixth largest car manufacturer but the country’s largest exporter.  Last year it sold 650,000 units. Total car sales in China last year was 18.5 million.

JLR is owned by TATA Motors which has revealed plans for a £10 billion expansion plan over the next five years; the link with Chery is part of that expansion plan. JLR has said that the output from the plant, which in the first phase is set to make 130,000 units a year, will be in addition to existing output – and not a replacement for any UK production unit. It is understood that 60 per cent of the plant’s output will be Land-Rover-badged vehicles.