Jaguar Land Rover invests £370 mn to upgrade facilities in UK

Tata Motor's Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has invested £370 million to upgrade its manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom as it prepares to launch the latest generation Range Rover across 170 countries

The investment would also help the company to increase productivity, Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement.

Inaugural sales of the new Range Rover, a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), is expected to commence this month, following a three-year engineering project, supporting 1,000 jobs in design, product development and manufacturing at JLR.

''Through a £370 million investment in our manufacturing facilities we have been able to build the world's first SUV with lightweight all-aluminium construction, a car that is 20 per cent lighter, with fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 22 per cent,'' JLR Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said.

As part of the investment, the company has installed a new aluminium body shop for the latest Range Rover at its Solihull plant, near Birmingham. It has also upgraded paint-applications technologies, trim assembly and warehousing facilities.

Jaguar Land Rover will shortly launch Jaguar XF Sportbrake and Jaguar F-Type sports car.

''Jaguar Land Rover is firing on all cylinders, generating export revenues of close to £8 billion a year as we meet demand for a model-range that justifies continued expansion in our UK facilities and elsewhere,'' Speth added.