Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has created 250 jobs to support the production of its new compact SUV, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, at its Halewood plant near the northern British city of Liverpool.
In preparation for the new vehicle, the company has also been investing heavily in Halewood over the past 12 to 18 months, with its total investment up to the next six months set to touch £200 million.
This would take the entire investment in the plant to around £500 million over the last four years, during which the workforce tripled.
Much of Halewood’s growth has been fuelled by JLR’s most successful vehicle to date — the Range Rover Evoque (though the Freelander was also made here).
Since 2012, JLR has been running Halewood on three shifts, enabling it to operate 24 hours a day to keep up with the demand.
“In many ways, Halewood has embodied the transformation of Jaguar Land Rover,” said the plant’s Operations Director Richard Else.
As part of the latest investment in the Land Rover Discovery Sport, JLR has put £45 million into a press line, acquired 260 robots, and laser-welding facilities, as well as new monitoring and reporting systems. The new Discovery Sport is set to go on sale next year.
Last year, sales at Jaguar Land Rover were up 19 per cent over the earlier year, with profit before tax in the year to March reaching £2.5 billion.
JLR says it plans to spend £3.5 billion in product creation and capital expenditure in the year to March.
JLR has been at the forefront of a revival of the UK automotive industry, and wider manufacturing sector.
Aston Martin, Bentley, and Nissan are among the car-makers to have announced new investments and jobs over the past six months.
According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), income generated by British car exports has more than doubled over the last decade, rising to just under £25 billion, from £12 billion.
The country, which produced 1.5 million cars last year, is set to break the 2-million-barrier mark by 2017, the SMMT forecasts.