Jaguar Land Rover will add an additional 1,000 positions and will move to a three shift, 24 hour-a-day operation at one of its British facilities to help it meet global demand for the Range Rover Evoque and the Freelander 2.
As a result, the workforce at its Halewood factory in Merseyside, where the two vehicles are produced, will rise to 3,500, and its total UK workforce to 21,000. The company will have recruited 5,000 people in Britain in the past 18 months.
The company is building an engine factory near Wolverhampton and, in November, the company announced that it would be creating 1,000 jobs at its Solihull plant in the West Midlands.
Last year, Tata Motors committed £1.5 billion a year for the five years to 2016 towards capital expenditure and product development at Jaguar Land Rover, with a further pledge for 40 product actions over that period.
“These 1,000 new jobs are further evidence of JLR’s clear ambition for continued growth,” said Mr Des Thurlby, Jaguar Land Rover HR Director.
In 2011, JLR produced 55,000 Freelander 2s and took an order for 60,000 Range Rover Evoques.
According to the latest sales figures announced in February, global sales of JLR in January were up 44 per cent against the same period a year ago. In the December quarter, JLR sales were up 36.7 per cent, which the company attributed to the “overwhelming response” to the Evoque, boosting group profits for the same period by 40.5 per cent to Rs 3,406 crore.