Tata Motors to set up new JLR engine plant
25 Apr 2011
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), part of Tata Motors, plans to to set up a new plant and will be recruiting about a thousand engineers over the coming months.
The company, acquired by Tata Motors from Ford Motor Company in 2008, announced record sales earlier this month. In the UK, it sold the highest number of Land Rovers in its 63-year history, while sales in India and China were up by 61 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.
Jaguar also announced its best-ever sales in India in March, besides a 70 per cent jump in Russia and 49 per cent in Germany.
According to Phil Popham, group sales operations director, despite a challenging business environment, ''JLR is flourishing on a global scale with March sales reflecting the confidence consumers have in our brands and products.''
The company, which is expected to make a £1-bn profit in the year to March, has already scrapped earlier plans to close a plant in the Midlands.
Ralf Speth, CEO, JLR, said recently the company would invest £1.5 billion every year over the next five years on product development. ''JLR is in the catch-up stage and we are going to do whatever we can to position ourselves in the top premium brand,'' he said.