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Jaguar Land Rover gets to work on new university R&D center

Jaguar Land Rover has a raft of new products in the pipeline, from the new Defender to the next-generation XF sedan. But new product isn't the only thing the British automaker is investing in: it's also opening new facilities around the world, including what it's calling the National Automotive Innovation Centre back home in the UK. Based at the University of Warwick, the new $220-million R&D center is the result of a joint effort between JLR, its parent company Tata, the manufacturing arm of the university and the British government. The facility will bring together professionals from the automaker as well as its suppliers with academics to encourage, as the name suggests, innovation in the automotive sector. Its 355,000 square feet are earmarked to become the hub for Jaguar Land Rover's advanced research activities, including "workshops, laboratories, virtual engineering suites and advanced powertrain facilities, equipped to enable a full range of design, visualisation and prototyping activities." The cornerstore was just laid in a ceremony this week, but the facility isn't due to open until the Spring of 2017 when it will encompass some 1,000 employees, including 600 relocated by JLR to the new location from other sites in the UK. Related Video: Construction Begins On New UK Automotive Innovation Centre For Jaguar Land Rover - GBP150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) will open in Spring 2017, providing a state-of-the-art technology hub for Jaguar Land Rover's advanced research team and collaborative partners from the supply chain and academia - To keep the UK and Jaguar Land Rover at the forefront of global innovation, the team will develop the vehicles and personal mobility solutions of the future - The NAIC will focus on inspiring the next generation of engineers - from schoolchildren to undergraduates.

Jaguar Land Rover said to favor Europe rather than US for new plant

With its plants running at full tilt, Jaguar Land Rover is in desperate need of additional manufacturing capacity. That's led to reports that the Indian-owned British company was looking to join European, Japanese and Korean automakers in America's southern states, all while it opened new plants in the UK and China. The company even announced it would be building the Land Rover Discovery Sport in Brazil. Now, though, reports are suggesting that JLR is looking at Europe for a new facility, rather than the US, with Automotive News claiming the company's execs are eyeing the lower costs afforded by Austria and Turkey. The report cites the Birmingham Post (UK), the broadsheet that's closest to the company's headquarters. According to the original report, labor costs and wage disputes with unions are ruling out another factory in the UK, while those same disputes with labor outfits may also be souring the automaker on a US facility. "At this stage Europe seems more likely than America. The union pay dispute had a big effect," an unnamed source told the Post. "There is a feeling of alienation that has been left over from the way the pay talks were handled." JLR, meanwhile, offered a solid no comment to the Post, with a spokesperson saying, "No decision has been taken on future manufacturing locations. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to increase our manufacturing footprint in the future." Related Video:

Jaguar Land Rover to cut more U.K. jobs as it moves Discovery output to Slovakia

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to cut more jobs in Britain as it moves all production of its Discovery car to lower-cost Slovakia before building its new Range Rover at an English factory. Britain's biggest automaker, JLR has previously said its next-generation Discovery will be built at its Slovakia plant and on Monday announced there could be some job cuts in Britain as a result. "The potential losses of some agency employed staff in the UK is a tough one but forms part of our long-term manufacturing strategy as we transform our business globally," the company said in a statement. Moving production from Britain will slash several thousands of pounds off the cost per vehicle, the firm's Chief Finance Officer Ken Gregor said last year. The new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport will however be built at the firm's central English Solihull plant on an architecture which is designed to allow for diesel, petrol, electric and hybrid models to be produced. Monday's announcement comes after the firm said this year it will cut 1,000 jobs and reduce production at two of its English factories as demand for diesel cars slumps in the face of higher taxes and a regulatory crackdown. The firm has also blamed Brexit for hitting demand in Europe's second-largest autos market, where demand fell 6 percent last year, a source told Reuters in April. JLR said in January it would decide this year whether to build electric cars in its home market after announcing all of its new cars will be available in an electric or hybrid version from 2020. The company, owned by India's Tata Motors, builds nearly one in three of Britain's 1.7 millions cars but is producing its first electric vehicle, the I-Pace, in Austria. JLR's new factory in the Slovak city of Nitra is due to begin production by the end of the year and will have a capacity of up to 300,000 vehicles. It already employs 1,400 people there as it gears up to open. In Britain, the firm built just over 530,000 vehicles last year at three production facilities and also has a separate engine site and headquarters, employing roughly 40,000 people in total. Related Video: Image Credit: Reuters/Paul Ellis Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Plants/Manufacturing Jaguar Land Rover SUV Luxury Off-Road Vehicles jaguar land rover jobs jlr slovakia