Jaguar Land Rover is to double the size of its new UK engine plant in a major expansion of its West Midlands manufacturing operation.
Some £450 million will be invested in the Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC), located adjacent to the M54 motorway at Wolverhampton.
The EMC only began production of Jaguar’s Ingenium diesel engine family at the start of 2015 but has already built 50,000 engines.
The new expansion, taking total investment in the site to £1 billion, will see the EMC’s operational footprint increased to 200,000 square metres, in the process creating what JLR is describing as “several hundred” new jobs.
Ingenium engines were launched initially in the Jaguar XE in April 2015 and soon after in the Discovery Sport, two models that between them have so far accounted for 65,800 sales in 2015. The EMC is now supplying all three of JLR’s vehicle plants with the engines, designed to be high technology but los emission and also now powering the Range Rover Evoque, the new Jaguar XF and the soon-to-launch Jaguar F-Pace crossover.
JLR CEO Dr Ralf Speth describes the EMC as a strategically significant facility for the company. “The decision to expand our operations at the site provides a clear signal of our commitment to meeting customer demand for cleaner and more efficient engines, whilst developing the skills and capability that Britain needs if it is to remain globally competitive,” he says.
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