Jaguar Land Rover pledges £5bn on new products
JAGUAR Land Rover is to invest £5bn over the next five years – equivalent to £20m a week – on a development programme that will see the company produce 40 new model variants.
The company has also announced it is to work in collaboration with the Williams Formula 1 team to develop a £700,000 road-going version of the gas turbine powered CX-75 supercar which grabbed the limelight at last year’s Paris Motor Show.
JLR chief executive Ralf Speth confirmed the development programme at a press conference in London.
He reiterated the firm’s intention to create 1,000 new engineering jobs to complete the development programme and said the firm had already been inundated with applications for the jobs.
“Jaguar Land Rover is investing like never before. We will be developing 40 significant products in the next five years but this is only one part of the development activities,” he said.
He said the company intended spending £1bn a year to produce the most attractive and innovative vehicles in the world. These will feature exotic materials and hybrid technology, and the designs would be bold and seductive, he added.
He also said the company would be investing £100m in research into new engine technology, including the ongoing development of gas turbines.
Today’s announcement on the CX-75 will see Jaguar collaborate with Formula 1 racing team Williams to develop what is planned to be the most technologically advanced road car ever developed.
Instead of pure gas turbines, the car will utilise two powerful electric motors which will be linked using hybrid technology to an F1 concept engine.
The result will be a car which can accelerate from 0-100 mph in less than six seconds but which will also be able to drive for 30 miles on zero emission electric motors.
There had been speculation the company may reveal more about its planned new products, including a possible entry level saloon.
However, there was no announcement on this, nor on speculation the company may be about to invest in a new engine plant.
Today’s announcement will deflect attention away from disappointing UK sales figures for April which showed Jaguar declined more than 58% and Land Rover almost 30% compared with the same month last year.
