Jaguar Land Rover starts work on new £1bn factory development

VEHICLE manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has officially begun the latest phase of its global production expansion with the start of work on its third overseas plant.

The new facility in Slovakia represents a £1bn investment by the company and follows the opening of the firm’s new factory in Brazil earlier this year, while its pioneering joint venture with Chery in China started production two years ago.

Underlining the importance of the new plant, the ground-breaking ceremony was attended by Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and UK Ambassador to Slovakia, Andy Garth.

The new 300,000m² factory, which is in the Nitra region, will manufacture a range of all-new aluminium JLR vehicles and will support the company’s plan to offer customers new high-tech, lightweight cars.

Dr Ralf Speth, JLR CEO, said: “The start of construction in Slovakia today represents the beginning of a new phase in our plan to create a truly global business.

“The factory will strengthen our international manufacturing capabilities as well as complement our existing facilities in the UK, China, India and Brazil.”

The new plant will have an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and the first cars are expected to come off the production line in late 2018.

It will feature new manufacturing technologies that will speed up production conveyance by as much as 30%. It will also feature a new automated paint shop.

The company has received around 40,000 applications from people looking to work at the plant, which when fully operational will employ 2,800 people. Recruitment will start towards the end of next year.

Mr Fico said: “The JLR investment confirms that Slovakia is a good place to do business and an investment of such magnitude will have a positive ripple effect not only for the region of Nitra, but also for the whole of Slovakia.”

With the company’s three UK plants – Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Halewood – nearing full capacity, the development of the overseas production facilities are vital in delivering the additional capacity needed by the firm to support its global ambitions.

There are also rumours that the company may expand its production operations to India – home to parent company Tata Motors – with a factory producing a variant of the new Defender. Currently, it assembles the Evoque and Jaguar XF from knock-down kits supplied from the UK.

Elsewhere, Aston Martin has begun recruiting for its new production operation in South Wales.

The plant at St Athan will begin full production of the firm’s new luxury crossover vehicle in 2020.

The firm has recruited its first 40 workers for the plant and they are undergoing training at the manufacturer’s base in Gaydon on the new DB11 sports car.

Aston Martin had initially said the new plant would employ around 1,000 people but it is thought this has now been scaled back to around 750.

Construction of the new plant is scheduled to start next year.

Meanwhile, BMW has seen a 5.7% increase in group sales during August, with 165,431 vehicles delivered to customers around the world.

This result brings year-to-date sales to 1,508,659 – up 5.5% compared with the same period last year and the first time ever the company has sold over one and a half million vehicles in the first eight months of a year.

Sales of the MINI brand increased by 10.3% in August, with 22,575 delivered to customers worldwide.

Sales of BMW and MINI were up 6.3% in Europe, while in Asia sales rose 13.8%.

However, the manufacturer is still finding the US market tough, where sales dipped 4.4% in August and are down 7% for the year-to-date.