Jaguar Land Rover is setting up a new manufacturing plant in Western Slovakia and the final decision will be announced later this year.
Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors has five production facilities across the world right now. Two are located in the West Midlands at Castle Bromwich and Solihull, one is near Liverpool in Halewood and two design and engineering centres are located at Gaydon and Whitley in the Midlands. Across these five sites, the company produces vehicles that are sold to 178 countries. More than 80% of these vehicles are sold outside Europe. Now, the company is gearing up to set up a new manufacturing plant in Slovakia.
The new facility will be located in Nitra city in Western Slovakia and the company has already signed a letter of intent with the Government of Slovakia for the same. Jaguar Land Rover is currently doing a feasibility study with the government to explore plans for a factory that will manufacture 3 lakh vehicles over the next decade. The plant will start manufacturing aluminium-based vehicles from 2018. This location was selected only after considering various other options like Europe, United States and Mexico.
Slovakia has been chosen thanks to the fact that it is close to a strong supply chain and good logistics infrastructure. Based on the result of the feasibility study, a formal decision will be announced later this year. Apart from the above plants, the company also has assembly facilities in China and India and a new one is upcoming at Brazil. Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover was quoted saying, “The expansion of our business globally is essential to support its long-term, resilient growth. As well as creating additional capacity, it allows us to invest in the development of more new vehicles and technologies, which supports jobs in the UK. With its established premium automotive industry, Slovakia is an attractive potential development opportunity for us.”
