Jaguar boosts UK auto sector with electric cars commitment

Bloomberg

Jaguar Land Rover plans to build a new range of electrified cars in the UK, safeguarding thousands of jobs and providing a boost for a British automotive industry that’s been rocked by job cuts and plant closures.
The move involves hundreds of millions of pounds in investments. It guarantees the future of the company’s Castle Bromwich plant in central England and comes after JLR committed to offering electrified options of all new models from 2020. The first electric vehicle off the production line will be the ninth generation of Jaguar’s flagship XJ saloon.
Brexit, a slowdown in China and flagging demand for diesel-powered vehicles have taken a toll on JLR, which owns the iconic Jaguar sports-car and Land Rover sport-utility brands. The company,
part of India’s Tata Motors Ltd, said in January it would slash 4,500 jobs worldwide to conserve cash, and Tata is exploring options for the business, Bloomberg reported earlier.
While contending with the slowdown JLR, like other carmakers, is also navigating a costly transition towards electrification. While the Jaguar I-Pace SUV, its first all-electric car, is being made in Austria, the company is retooling part of its Solihull plant, also in the English Midlands, to make electric versions of Land Rover’s top-end Range Rover models.
More basic autos are being moved to a lower-cost site in Slovakia, which took over production of the Land Rover Discovery and will also make the revived version of the brand’s original Defender model. JLR is showcasing that car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in camouflage disguise and without revealing whether it will come as a hybrid as standard or feature an all-electric variant.
JLR Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth said both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands are intrinsically British and that the UK also offers a combination design and engineering know-how that makes focussing electric-vehicle production there the logical decision, regardless of any concerns involving Brexit-related uncertainty.
At the same time Speth called on the government and industry to work together to establish giga-scale battery production, saying that’s something no one manufacturer can manage alone.