Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to create 1,300 new jobs at its plant in Solihull, U.K., where it plans to build a new Jaguar model to be launched in 2016.
The new Jaguar performance crossover, set to go on sale in 2016, follows the Jaguar XE into the new facilities within the Solihull plant. The facility makes Land Rover products, including the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Land Rover Discover and Defender, according to a statement from the company.
The announcement also marks Jaguar’s entry into the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment with the Jaguar F-Pace, which was unveiled at the Detroit auto show. The company has said it plans 50 product actions in the next five years, of which 12 will be in the next 12 months.
“Today’s announcements once again demonstrate our commitment to the U.K. and the advancement of a high-tech, high skilled, manufacturing-led economy,’’ JLR CEO Ralf Speth said in the statement. JLR is spending 3.5-3.75 billion pound on new product creation and capital expenditure in the current financial year, and has invested a total of over 10 billion pound in the last five years. Its headcount has doubled over the past few years to more than 32,000 globally, of which 30,500 are in the U.K..
Sales up 9 % in 2014 JLR retailed 462,678 vehicles in 2014; a growth of 9 per cent over the previous year. This, according to the statement, is JLR’s fifty successive year of growth in sales.
“With 12 significant new product actions planned for 2015 and the introduction of the new Jaguar XE and the Land Rover Discovery Sport, we anticipate retailing over half a million vehicles for the first time in the company’s history,’’ Andy Goss, JLR Group Sales Operations Director, said in the statement.
In 2014, Land Rover sales touches record sales of 381,108 units, a 9 per cent growth on continued strong customer demand. Jaguar sales grew 6 per cent during the year to 81,570 vehicles, the statement said.
