Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) planning UK engine plant

JLR look set to make their own engines

We’ve known for a while that Jaguar Land Rover are planning to build their own engines. At least the four-pot variety, anyway. But it seems they have far more ambitious plans.

According to the Telegraph, JLR are in the process of deciding on a new site to build an engine plant. The plan, it’s reported, is to build a new engine plant to help fulfil JLR’s burgeoning order book – something they’re starting to struggle with – with locations under consideration being Wolverhampton, South Wales and – India.

At present, JLR’s engines are part of a deal with Ford and are produced in the UK at Dagenham and Bridgend. But with both Jaguar and Land Rover sales flying there are worries that demand will soon exceed supply, so the plan is to create a new engine plant, and with it 1,000 new jobs.

It’s highly unlikely that Jaguar Land Rover are going to suddenly come up with a complete range of new engines developed in-house and capable of matching the, frankly brilliant, range of engines currently supplied by Ford.

No, the likelihood is that – certainly at first – Ford engines will be built in a JLR engine plant under license and top-up the supply of engines coming from Dagenham and Bridgend. But there is no question that in time the might – and money – of Tata will fund the development of proper, bespoke Jaguar engines. Something we haven’t seen for quite some time.

Although this could be very good news for UK manufacturing, there is of course a chance that Tata will decide the Jaguar engine plant will be built in India. Which wouldn’t go down at all well with the UK Government.

So we rather suspect this may be an early bit of kite-flying to get opinion in high-places on-side. And help pay for the new engine plant with grants and tax breaks from a Government eager to be seen to be encouraging manufacturing growth in the UK

It’s certainly a plan.

Source: Telegraph

By Cars UK