Jaguar Land Rover has inaugurated its new £500 million ($800 million) Engine Manufacturing Centre in the UK, the brand’s first in-house engine production facility in a generation.
Announced in September 2011, the plant represents a major step in Jaguar Land Rover’s strategic investment program and creates 1,400 new jobs. Located near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, the Engine Manufacturing Centre will produce the Ingenium engine family which will power the new generation of Jaguar Land Rover products.
The first engine to be made at the new facility is the 2.0-liter diesel, which will roll off the production line early next year to equip Jaguar XE vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover’s 2,000 powertrain engineers together with the new 1,400 employees at the Engine Manufacturing Centre will work together to deliver the next generation of four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines.
The 100,000 square meter facility houses an engine-testing center alongside manufacturing and assembly halls and is home to the largest rooftop solar panel installation in the UK, comprising no fewer than 21,000 individual panels. JLR estimates these panels will generate more than 30 percent of the plant’s energy requirements, providing the same amount of energy required to power 1,600 homes.
“Our new Engine Manufacturing Centre is an important step in advancing the competitiveness and capability of the UK automotive sector. The production of in-house engines will support the expansion of the UK supply chain providing critical mass for inward investment,” said Trevor Leeks, operations director at the new plant.
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