News : JLR to create 1000 jobs at Solihull

Jaguar Land Rover boost in the UK
Jaguar Land Rover boost in the UK

In a major boost to the British economy, which is riddled with uncertainty caused by the eurozone crisis, the premium car maker said the jobs will support plans to launch 40 new products over the next five years.

The expansion will mean JLR employs more than 21,000 staff in the Midlands and Merseyside, and it is also planning to build a new engine plant near Wolverhampton that will create further jobs.

JLR, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, was forced to ask the Government for financial support in 2009 as automotive sales tumbled. However, it has enjoyed an extraordinary turnaround in fortunes since then thanks to rapidly growing sales in emerging markets. The company posted pre-tax profits of £1.1bn in the year to March 31 and is investing more than £1bn a year into research and development.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said: “This is fantastic news for Solihull that JLR is recruiting more than 1,000 jobs. This is a positive story of growth for the plant that was once under threat of closure. It is now expanding and has ambitious product plans.”

JLR’s Solihull plant produces the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Defender and Discovery, but it will also manufacture new Land Rover models over the next few years. The new jobs will increase the plant’s workforce by 25% to around 5000 workers,

Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: “It is excellent news for UK automotive and demonstrates the commitment of global investors to the UK, drawing on the high level of skills held by the workforce here”.

Jaguar XJ's success has helped lead to a boost in JLR production
Jaguar XJ's success has helped lead to a boost in JLR production

[Source: The Telegraph]

Keith Adams

25 Comments

  1. This is, indeed, brilliant news. Hopefully, it will go someway to address the demise of MG-Rover and Peugeot’s Ryton plant. There are still many, many hurdles to overcome as the competition aren’t standing still !!

  2. It could have been a lot worse than wasting a thousand workers they could have done a lift and shift to Pune! But then who would buy a Tata?! Total sh*te!

  3. Rather bigoted comment if I may say so F brett. Without Tata’s investment you could forget this and other massive investment going into JLR’s UK operations. Tata are probably the best thing that has happened to the British Motor industry in years.

  4. Dennis: From memory, they had PLANS to lay off 1500 workers and rationalise the plants, closing Castle Bromwich; these were set, then – I think – set to be reviwed “by 2015” (2010 news – five year plan, anyone?) , and now they’ve got the strength to not only run the plants, but I think (and I am only remembering bits of news, so I might be wrong) that the layoffs were linked to plant closures, and didn’t happen.

    Francis: I am guessing several million of the billions of people in India would buy a Tata, and appreciate it too. The world is a little bigger than Britain.

  5. @ Paul:

    I agree. Thanks to Tata’s commitment to the five-year plan for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) it inherited from Ford, together with making other opportunities available, JLR is now in its best position for many years.

    For the first time in over two decades, Jaguars Cars is not only making a profit and delivering quality made cars that consumers actually want to buy, but has its cost base firmly under control.

    Land Rover has further developed the green oval brand over and beyond most people’s expectations whereby it is now up there with the very best contenders in the SUV market. New models continue to ooze with engineering innovation and style, while still maintaining their own distinctive design silhouette.

    I really am proud of what JLR has achieved and that my second favourite brand (Land Rover) after Rover has such a fantastic future ahead of it. Good luck to all at JLR!

  6. JLR would have to be the UK succes storey of the GFC. Good on them they deserve to be praised:-) Looking forward to seeing new models. They definity have the styling edge over the MG’s. I also think there is still room for the Rover brand (to fit between Jaguar and the competition). Alex

  7. “But then who would buy a Tata?! Total sh*te!”

    Just out of curiosity Francis, what cars (other than the Hillman Hunter) in your opinion aren’t – “total sh*te”, are they more or less “total sh*te” than French cars for example?

    Thing is Tata’s are built for India and the far east, they’re cheap, easy to maintain and simple to repair with basic equipment. If anyone’s seen “Ice Road Truckers – worlds deadliest roads”, you can see that while the Tata trucks are archaic in their construction, and by western standards grossly under powered, they seem to travel on some of the harshest terrain while grossly overloaded and seldom break down, pretty good going for something that’s total sh*te really. The same goes for their cars, they sell thousands of them in the far east, would you want one here? No probably not, a cheap second hand european car would probably be more comfortable and offer a better level of equipment.

    “They definity have the styling edge over the MG’s.”
    I agree, but then you would hope so when JLR’s products are considerably more expensive.

    “I also think there is still room for the Rover brand”
    Or Daimler, or SS Cars, or Swallow. I thought BMW tried the whole thing with having a lower level luxury brand below their cars? Ahh yeah, that’s right they did, it was called ‘Rover’. Don’t think they had much success with it.

  8. I’m very pleased with JLR’s rapid turn-around from when it was going cap in hand to the government. Face it, there’s never been a more complete, and competitive, range of Jags and Landies. I don’t much like Tatas myself, but I’m delighted they’ve got hold of Jaguar and Land Rover. There’s better work being done now than there ever was under BMW or Ford or, obviously, BL. Like one of the previous comments, I’ve got a soft spot for the Rover brand too – but I’m not holding out for it to be reborn. Still, I can always start kicking tyres on used X-Types. A Jag’s a Jag, and not to be sniffed at.

  9. Great to see the success story going from strength to strength.
    As for Tata…. If they decided to make a CityRover again I would buy one.

  10. Coming on top of their announcement to build a new engine plant near W’hampton and BMW’s recent announcement to inject a few more million quid into Hams Hall to build diesel engines, this is all much needed good news. Excellent stuff.

  11. A good news story about ‘British’ manufacturing (I’ve added inverted commas, because sadly, none of the manufacturers are British owned anymore – but that was our fault anyway!) – most importantly it’s creating jobs in the West Midlands – where they’re sorely needed.

  12. “sadly, none of the manufacturers are British owned anymore”

    There are a few. JLR’s Neighbours – Aston-Martin were bought from Ford by a British Led consortium as i remember.

    I expect Britain’s largest manufacturer of Motor Vehicles is JCB. Can’t get much more iconic than when a company lends it name to a type of vehicle. I mean no one goes to a plant hire firm and asks for a “Backhoe-Loader” do they?

  13. @comments 4,5 and six,firstly i will clarify that im no biggot thats an easy blanket comment when one does not have the capacity to understand a simple comment,the thread being as stated they could have buggered off lock stock and barrel to india and shut the lot,as would be tatas perogative if it so chose.someone said didnt they lay off a thousand people?to which my comment became salient.Now,like most people i applaud tatas investment in JLR even though he was critical in a recent radio 4 programme on the british work ethic.How biggoted,not-a truthful man.ok tata,poorly built maybe great in india or whatever but the streets over here arnt awash with them,only indica/cityrover and are horribly built as was the loadbeta pick ups, keevil engineering in shepton mallet will atest,namely rusty bulkheads loaded with lead etc im not being a little englander but im hardly concerned with what the rest of the world does and doesnt do but just to make sure for the avoidance of confusion im happy to wish JLR every deserved success i think the cars are absolutely great the 4×4 brilliant (not mad keen on RR sport waag/drug dealer-esque)

  14. @Dennis there is a lot of chinese manufactured parts in a jcb cheaply made.thats why garage equipment firms import container loads of vehicle lifts and knock ’em out at a grand apiece with room for profit!and they last a year were a bradbury or stenhoj would last a lifetime!

  15. “@Dennis – hardly a British owned car industry is it!”

    Car Industry no. Motor Industry yes. But clearly a shadow of it’s former self, when our largest manufacturer is Digger & Tractor builder.

    “@Dennis there is a lot of chinese manufactured parts in a jcb cheaply made.”
    Well you can say that about just about ‘anything’ these days. My classic Mini has a Japanese Sunroof, French Ignition System, German Fuel Injectors, Italian Wheels, Australian Headlamp covers, Charcoal canister is made in the US and i would imagine things like fuses, wiring plugs and other small parts are made in China…. It was all put together in Britain though.

    JCB like everyone else will import parts, but they’re still clearly British Owned, Designed in Britain and the majority of their large products are still assembled in Britain.

    “thats why garage equipment firms import container loads of vehicle lifts and knock ‘em out at a grand apiece with room for profit!and they last a year were a bradbury or stenhoj would last a lifetime!”
    Not really sure what that has to do with it? Yes you can buy cheap products from the far east, some are ok for their price, but don’t last as long as more expensive items. As far as i can see chinese manufacturers (in general) will build stuff to a price if that’s what you want. They’ll also build to a quality spec if that’s what you want, but it costs more. Plenty of major manufacturers have their products made in China, Mobile phones are a good example, Hornby trains are another. I think it’s almost impossible to buy anything these days without at least one component part being made in China, their manufacturing capacity is just so vast. With your example of Lifts, the Bradbury’s probably use motor cores and other small parts from the far east. However the difference is that if a Bradbury breaks you can get replacement parts, with the cheap lifts, it’s usually not much more to buy a complete new lift than have a single part shipped from China. The distributors don’t normally hold stocks of parts and unless you ship an entire container load of goods at a time it’s expensive.

  16. “Dennis@20 makes you wonder why the MG6 doesn’t sell then.”
    Not really, i think that’s been covered in various other posts. Main reason is they’ve not really advertised it in the UK.

    “I bet everyone at Longbridge is applying for these jobs!”
    Well JLR have said they’re expecting thousands of applicants, so it’s a fair bet that more than one or two ex-MGR staff will be applying. As for Current MG employees i suppose it depends if it’s someone who likes to work or prefers to sit around getting paid for it.

  17. any one have ideas how they recurit skilled manpower

    they will have specfic job fare or something else please tell

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