Jaguar Land Rover plans plant in Slovakia, to invest Rs.10,000 cr

The first cars are expected to come off the production line in late 2018.

British luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the fully-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, has signed an agreement to set up a manufacturing facility in Slovakia with an investment of £1 billion (over Rs.10,000 crore).

The company will build a new plant in the city of Nitra, western Slovakia. The manufacturing facility will eventually employ around 2,800 people in Slovakia.

“Today’s announcement follows JLR’s recent confirmation to double its investment in its engine plant in the U.K. to almost £1 billion (over Rs.10,000 crore) — the largest injection into a new British manufacturing plant in decades creating several hundred new jobs,” a company statement said. “The new factory will complement our existing facilities in the U.K., China, India and Brazil and marks the next step in the company’s strategy to become a truly global business,” Dr. Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer, said in the statement.

Slovakia has more than 300 suppliers in close proximity and has a logistics infrastructure making it an ideal location for the new facility. It was chosen after following an analysis of a number of locations around the world including other European countries, United States and Mexico.

“The heart of our company will always be in the U.K., where our design, technology and manufacturing capabilities are based. It is our creativity and innovation which makes Jaguar Land Rover the leading boutique automotive brand, offering exceptional products for our customers,” Mr. Speth said.

The plant will manufacture a range of all-new aluminium JLR vehicles and the first cars are expected to come off the production line in late 2018. The factory will have an initial capacity of 150,000 vehicles and construction will commence in 2016.

JLR has been aggressively building its manufacturing capacities internationally. Last year it opened a new joint venture in China and commenced construction of a manufacturing plant in Brazil at the end of 2014. The new international plants allow JLR to offer its customers new models, besides protecting them against currency fluctuations. Over the past five years JLR has invested more than £11 billion in new product creation and capital expenditure. In 2008, the Tata Motors, the flagship of the Tata group had acquired JLR from Ford Motor Company for $2.3 billion.