JLR invests £15bn in drive to electric with shake-ups at its UK manufacturing sites

Luxury car maker, Jaguar Land Rover, announced the latest stage of its Reimagine strategy with a £15bn investment over the next five years and shake-ups at its UK manufacturing sites.

The Halewood plant, in Knowsley, Merseyside, will become an all-electric production facility and its next generation medium-size SUV architecture, electrified modular architecture (EMA), will now be pure-electric, in plans to accelerate its transition to become the world’s leading modern luxury car manufacturer.

In addition, JLR also revealed its Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, currently producing Ingenium internal combustion engines for its vehicles, will have an electric future, producing electric drive units and battery packs for JLR’s next generation vehicles. It will be renamed the Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre to reflect the move.

And, in positive news for the future of the historic Castle Bromwich site in the West Midlands, JLR confirmed that its stamping facilities that prepare pressed body metalwork for its vehicles will be expanded to play a key role in the company’s electric future, by providing bodywork for next generation electric vehicles.

JLR said it continues to explore options for other parts of the Castle Bromwich site.

And the motor manufacturer announced that the first of three reimagined modern luxury Jaguars will be a four-door GT built in Solihull in the West Midlands.

Chief executive, Adrian Mardell, revealed the plans at the group’s Gaydon site today.

He reaffirmed the business’s commitment to its Reimagine strategy, which will reposition the company as an electric-first, modern luxury carmaker by 2030, as JLR makes strides towards its financial goals of achieving a net cash positive position by fiscal year 2025 and double-digit EBIT by 2026.

He said: “Two years ago, we launched our Reimagine strategy and since then we have made great progress, including launching two new critically acclaimed modern luxury Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models, joining the Defender family, for which there is record demand.

“We achieved this while navigating the headwinds of the pandemic and chip shortages, and successfully ramping up production of our most profitable models to deliver profit in Q3.

“Today I am proud to announce we are accelerating our electrification path, making one of our UK plants and our next generation medium-size luxury SUV architecture fully electric. This investment enables us to deliver to our modern luxury electric future, developing new skills, and reaffirming our commitment to be net zero carbon by 2039.”

Announcing news of its next generation electrification roadmap, JLR confirmed it will start to invite applications for client orders for the modern luxury all-electric Range Rover from later this year.

The first of its next generation medium-size modern luxury SUVs will be an all-electric model from the Range Rover family, launching in 2025 and built at Halewood, in a move that further affirms JLR’s commitment to the future of the UK car industry.

And while EMA will now be electric only, as the trend to electrification in certain markets increases, JLR will retain the flexible modular longitudinal architecture (MLA) on which Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are built offering internal combustion engine (ICE), HYBRID and battery electric vehicle (BEV) options.

This gives JLR flexibility to adapt its vehicle line up to meet the needs of different markets around the world that are moving at different speeds towards net zero carbon targets.

Also, as a next step within the Reimagine strategy, it was revealed that JLR will move to a House of Brands approach, to amplify the unique character of each of its brands – Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar – and accelerate the delivery of the company’s vision, to become proud creators of the world’s most desirable modern luxury automotive brands for the most discerning clients.

JLR’s chief creative officer, Prof Gerry McGovern, said: “Pivotal to our Reimagine strategy is the formation of the House of Brands, which is a natural evolution, with a purpose of elevating and amplifying the uniqueness of our characterful British marques.

“Our ultimate ambition is to build truly emotionally engaging experiences for our clients that, over time, will build long term high equity for our brands and long term sustainability for JLR.”

JLR also announced that the first of three reimagined modern luxury Jaguars will be a four-door GT built in Solihull in the West Midlands. With power output more than any previous Jaguar, a range up to 430 miles, and with indicative pricing from £100,000, the new Jaguar will be built on its own unique architecture, named JEA.

More details of the new four-door GT Jaguar will be released later this year, before going on sale in selected markets in 2024, for client deliveries in 2025.

Prof McGovern added: “We have radically reimagined Jaguar as a modern luxury brand. The key to Jaguar’s transformation is that the designs convey that they are a copy of nothing.”

CEO Adrian Mardell said: “With Range Rover, the original luxury SUV, available for pre-order in pure electric form later this year, and the first of three breathtaking electric reimagined Jaguar models to be launched in 2025, we are stepping into an incredibly exciting new electric era for JLR as a modern luxury business.”