Jaguar Land Rover create 700 more jobs at new engine plant

Jaguar Land Rover has announced that they are creating an additional 700 jobs – double the original – at their new engine plant in Wolverhampton.

Back in 2011, we revealed that Jaguar Land Rover were planning a new facility on the i54 development in Wolverhampton to build engines for their cars, removing the reliance on Ford’s (excellent) engines in the process.

That investment was to be £335 million with 700 new jobs created in Wolverhampton – and more than 2,000 in the supply chain – but it seems that’s not going to be enough with Jaguar Land Rover sales continuing to grow at a great rate of knots.

So JLR have bitten the bullet and decided that the investment in the new engine plant will rise to £500 million and that the number of new jobs at the plant will increase to 1,400.

The new engine plant is the first in JLR’s history to be completely designed and specified by JLR and will run to more than 100,000 sq m with an engine testing centre sitting alongside the manufacturing and assembly halls, producing a new range of four-cylinder engines which JLR say will offer class-leading levels of refinement and big reductions in emissions.

JLR boss, Ralph Speth, said:

Jaguar Land Rover’s new Engine Manufacturing Centre in the UK is a clear demonstration of our business strategy guiding our investment plans.

Not only does it bring our engine supply back to our production doorstep, but it gives us significant new resource as we continue to innovate with new products and markets.

Jaguar Land Rover reckon the new engine plant will be completed by the end of the year (at least that’s what the builders have told them) and new JLR engines will be rolling off the line and in to new Jaguars and Land Rovers by 2015.