Land Rover Discovery Sport confirmed for Brazil production

Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed that one of the first cars to be built in its new plant in Brazil will be the new Land Rover Discovery Sport in 2016.

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It’s just a week since Jaguar Land Rover started building cars in China – the first time Jaguars or Land Rovers have been built outside the UK – and now JLR affirm their global production drive with the news that the new Land Rover Discovery Sport will be one of the first cars to roll out of their new plant in Brazil.

Unlike JLR’s plant in China, which is co-owned by Chery, JLR’s plant in Itatiaia, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazil plant is wholly owned by JLR and the plan is to build 24,000 vehicles a year for the Brazilian market by 2020.

In the process of getting to that target, JLR will have invested £240 million, created 400 jobs in the plant and 1,000 in the supply chain and will actually start rolling cars off the line by 2016.

Phil Popham, JLR MD, said:

Brazil and the surrounding regions are very important to Jaguar Land Rover. With customers in Brazil showing an increasing appetite for highly capable premium products, we are proud to confirm that our new breakthrough Discovery Sport will be manufactured at our new Brazilian facility.

JLR plan to start construction of their new plant by the end of 2014, which will make them the only British car maker with a local production plant and should help Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover to build on their current sales as the network of JLR dealers in Brazil also increases to 42 by the end of 2015.