Nissan stamps its mark on Sunderland

Proof of Nissan’s commitment to the UK can be found in a new extra-large 5,200-tonne press at its manufacturing plant in Sunderland.

Next Jaguar XE reinforces ally ‘road map’

The message in Jaguar’s ‘Road Map’ always claimed that the XE saloon could be built at the firm’s Land Rover plant in Solihull or Jaguar’s ‘home plant’ of Castle Bromwich. In the event, Solihull became the XE’s first port of call but with the option production could be moved to Castle Bromwich should the need arise.

JLR makes a bid to bolster vendor skills

Over 50 Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers attended an event this week staged by JaguarLandRover (JLR), the UK’s largest automotive employer, to share best practices around skills development and address recruitment challenges.

Is JLR paving the way for a US plant?

Is JaguarLandRover (JLR) mulling an ambitious plan to build a 200,000 cars-a-year assembly plant in the US? According to the London, UK-based Sunday Times it is.

The news comes as the company officially opens a new 130,000 vehicles-a-year plant in China and later this month is set to open its much-heralded i54 engine manufacturing facility in Wolverhampton, UK.

SCOOP: New press line for baby Jag

A new stamping press line, identical to the new line at JaguarLandRover’s Halewood facility will be installed in November at the company’s Castle Bromwich facility in the UK.

The new press line, by Aida Engineering S.r.l. Ltd of Derby will be identical to the Halewood line with the exception that the controls will be mounted on a mezzanine floor whereas at Halewood they are underground.

. . . As JLR invests £45m in Aida press line

JaguarLandRover (JLR) has invested £45million in a new state-of-the-art Japanese Aida servo press line at its Halewood Operations, near Liverpool.

The new servo stamping line, the first of its kind to be built in the UK, is 13m tall and over 85m long. It has a combined press stamping capacity of 7,900 tonnes, making it the fastest and one of the biggest and most powerful press lines across JLR, stamping both steel and aluminum panels.

Solihull revs up for 2015 aluminium Jaguar

 This year, JaguarLandRover’s UK Solihull manufacturing site will be the scene of much activity as advances are introduced in the aluminium process of building body-in-white (BIW).

Up until now, JLR’s two main centres of excellence for aluminium vehicle BIW manufacture have centred primarily on the company’s Castle Bromwich site and Solihull. Castle Bromwich, in particular, has seen a previously substantial investment (by Ford Motor Company) in equipment to stamp and handle aluminium body panels, primarily using a line of Schuler presses, provided the bedrock for the technology.

New blanking press feeds JLR shops

A new blanking press shop erected at JaguarLandRover’s Chester Road facility in Castle Bromwich will produce parts for future models.

The blanking process involves the making of blank panels which is the first stage of creating automotive body panels. This takes rolled coils of steel or aluminium and cuts (using a hydraulic press) outline body panel shapes ready for second pressing to create finished body panels for assembly.

This process is currently only undertaken at Halewood for JLR and the purpose of the new line is to produce panels for Castle Bromwich and Solihull. The new blanker line was required to support JLR’s projected production volumes at the site.

Hotfire engine to power new JLR light alloy cars

Jaguar Land Rover has announced an investment approaching £1.5 billion to introduce an all-new technically-advanced aluminium vehicle architecture in forthcoming models to be powered by the Hotfire family of engines.

To support this strengthening of the Jaguar product portfolio 1,700 new jobs will be created in the UK at its advanced manufacturing facility in Solihull.  

Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover chief executive officer, announced the major strategy at the Frankfurt Motor Show to deliver an enhanced range of models for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands in new segments and markets.

Aluminium is key to JLR’s future success

ACCESS to aluminium could become an important element of a new link between JaguarLandRover (JLR) and the Saudi Arabia government in Riyadh.

The UK-based vehicle builder, owned by Tata Motors of India, has signed a ‘letter of intent’ with the Saudi Arabia government that could pave the way for the company to build vehicles in the Middle Eastern region.

Aluminium has already become an important element of some Jaguar models and the signs are that it will become even more so as increasing attention is focused on ‘light-weighting’ of body-in-white (BIW) structures.

Jaguar already has one of the most up-to-date aluminium stamping lines in the UK at its Castle Bromwich facility in the West Midlands. The Schuler press lines are exclusively used to press skin panels and other components in aluminium.