Coventry & Warks LEP hails JLR for basing new technical centre at Ryton

THE decision by Jaguar Land Rover to base the technical centre of its new Special Vehicle Operation division in Coventry has been hailed by the area’s Local Enterprise Partnership.

The vehicle manufacturer announced earlier this month that it had chosen Prologis Park at Ryton as the base for the new operation.

Stretching across 225,000 sq ft, the new hub will be a global centre of excellence specialising in the creation of high-end luxury bespoke commissions and extreme performance vehicles.  These include the exciting Project 7 F-Type, unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, a series of new lightweight Jaguar E-Types and the high performance Range Rover Sport SVR – the most powerful ever production Land Rover.

With operations set to begin towards the end of the year, a team of 150 Jaguar Land Rover specialists will be based at Ryton. It is recruiting 100 new highly-skilled engineering and technicians, while £20m will be invested in specialist equipment and a customer commissioning suite.

The technical centre will also boast Formula 1-inspired flexible workshops and a specialist paint studio.

Jonathan Browning, chairman of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, said JLR’s decision was further evidence of Coventry and Warwickshire’s flourishing reputation as a hub of automotive excellence.

“The Special Vehicle Operations Technical Centre is specialist and intensely technical work requiring highly-skilled workers which Jaguar Land Rover attracts and develops to work on their exclusive vehicles,” he said.

“Jaguar Land Rover’s continued multi-million pound expansion is a tremendous success story and highlights their faith in the area by locating this specialist, bespoke division here.

“Advanced manufacturing and engineering was the cornerstone of our City Deal bid to government and the opening of this facility underlines the sector is going from strength to strength in Coventry and Warwickshire.”