Jaguar Land Rover’s new engine manufacturing plant in the UK will create 1,400 jobs when it reaches full capacity.
The £500-million Engine Manufacturing Centre near the central English city of Wolverhampton, opened on Thursday, will initially employ around 300 people.
The figure will rise to 600 by the following year and 1,400 by the time it reaches full capacity.
In addition, it could lead to 5,500 jobs in the supply chain. The facility will also be supported by 2,000 JLR powertrain engineers.
Around 30 per cent of its 71 suppliers are based in the UK, with the rest based largely in continental Europe.
The plant itself lies between the company's three other manufacturing sites at Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull, and is in an area with a long-standing automotive industry.
Production of the diesel engine at the plant will begin in January, with the first Jaguar XE—the company’s mid-sized executive “attainable” car—using the in-house engine rolling off the production line in the Spring.
The plant will begin producing the petrol version of the same engine in 2016.
Setting up an engine plant will allow JLR to tune them to the company’s specific needs, creating light-weight, efficient and powerful engines emitting minimal carbon dioxide. (The company estimates the first engine weigh 24 kg less than the one it replaces).
“Our goal is to transform the way engines are manufactured and to be recognised as the benchmark for excellence in manufacturing,” said Trevor Leeks, plant operations director at a presentation.
Till now, JLR had sourced its four cylinder diesel engines from a joint venture in France and Spain with Peugeot Citroen and Ford.
JLR will continue to source other engines such as the powerful V6 and V8 from Ford, and has said it remains committed to maintaining its relationship with the automaker for petrol and diesel engines in the long term.
JLR recently opened its first overseas factory in Changshu, China, in a joint venture with Chinese automaker Chery. It has a capacity to produce 130,000 cars a year.
Another factory in Brazil is set to start delivering cars by 2016 with a capacity of 24,000 cars a year. It has an assembly plant in Pune.