Jaguar Land Rover Opens New Engine Plant

Jaguar Land Rover has inaugurated its new Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. Built at an investment of £ 500 mn, it's taken the company just over 3 years since the announcement to build its own engines was first made. The new plant will make Jaguar Land Rover's new Ingenium range of engines, and represents a huge shift for JLR as its been relying on engine sourcing from other manufacturers until now. The new plant has also meant the creation of 1400 new jobs in the area.

The first engine to be made at the plant is the 2 litre diesel, and will be ready for the market by the start of 2015. The first product that the engine will go into is the new Jaguar XE. "Jaguar Land Rover is a business driven by design, technology and innovation and this investment and level of job creation is yet further evidence of our commitment to advancing the capability of the UK automotive sector and its supply chain" - said Ralf Speth, CEO, JLR.

The plant will manufacture the company's next generation of highly efficient 4 cylinder petrol and diesel engines. They will largely cater to the volumes end of the company's Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles. Last year JLR sold 425,000 units worldwide, with Land Rover accounting for the lion's share at 348,338 vehicles.