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JLR: £370m invested

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Time 10:37 am, September 7, 2012

JAGUAR Land Rover has invested £370 million to upgrade its UK manufacturing facilities and increase productivity as it prepares to launch the all-new Range Rover in 170 countries around the world.

Inaugural sales of the fourth-generation Range Rover are to begin this month following a three-year engineering project, supporting 1,000 jobs in design, product development and manufacturing at JLR.

Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive officer of JLR, said: ‘This outstanding new Range Rover symbolises our commitment to investing in Britain and exporting around the world, delivering class-leading performance, agility, quality and luxury in a model that enjoys iconic status in almost every market.


‘As the UK’s leading automotive investor in R&D, we are proud of the work that has gone into developing the new technologies and innovations to make the new Range Rover possible.

‘Through a £370m investment in our manufacturing facilities, we have been able to build the world’s first SUV with lightweight all-aluminium construction, a car that is 20 per cent lighter, with fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions reduced by 22 per cent.’

As part of the £370 million investment package, Jaguar Land Rover has installed a new aluminium body shop for the latest Range Rover at the company’s Solihull plant, near Birmingham, along with upgrades to paint-application technologies, trim assembly, warehousing and Jaguar Land Rover’s first customer handover centre.


Much-anticipated

The Range Rover forms part of a new model offensive by Jaguar Land Rover, which will launch shortly the much-anticipated Jaguar XF Sportbrake and the exciting new Jaguar F-Type sports car.

‘Jaguar Land Rover is firing on all cylinders, generating export revenues of close to £8 billion a year as we meet demand for a model-range that justifies continued expansion in our UK facilities and elsewhere,’ added Dr Speth.

Customers will begin taking delivery of the new vehicles in early 2013, some 40 years after the first Range Rover was unveiled.

In August, demand for JLR vehicles helped lift pre-tax profits by 32 per cent to £333 million for the first quarter of the current fiscal year, with more than 85,000 cars sold in the three months to June 30.

Full technical specification and pricing will be released ahead of the Paris international motor show this month.

Dave Brown's avatar

Dave, production editor on Car Dealer Magazine, is a journalist with more than 30 years' experience in the worlds of newspapers, magazines and public relations.



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