AUTOMOTIVE & MOTORSPORT
Chief executive Ralf Speth confirmed the company’s aim of doubling its output to 1m cars by 2020 and said production of electric vehicles in Britain would be a vital part of this.
The car boss has previously said that designing and engineering its vehicles in the UK is a vital part of the company’s heritage, although JLR is opening new factories around the world to meet demand.
The company - which currently has 40,000 UK staff - declined to put a number on how many employees would be added by producing electric vehicles in Britain.
However, with the company having pledged to make half its cars available with electric propulsion, it is likely to be a significant number.
The I-Pace will be built under contract by Magna Steyr in Austria initially, but it is thought that new facilities would be needed in Britain to meet future demand.
A JLR statement said: "CEO Dr Ralf Speth has confirmed his vision to double the production output of the business, make EVs in the UK and the desire to make the UK a global centre of excellence for battery research and development. However, this is dependent on overcoming infrastructure and capacity issues. We cannot comment on quoted job numbers or a timeframe."
Speth also said that the new car and increasing exports of JLR’s existing models would double JLR production to one million units by 2020.
JLR’s announcement comes days after the Government announced plans in its Autumn Statement to make the UK a global leader for electric vehicle and battery production.
UK business secretary Greg Clark, who was also at the meeting, said that this growing sector of the automotive industry could be “one of the big features of the world, and of Britain’s industrial policy, during the weeks, months and years ahead”.
Plug-in Cars
There are now more than one million electric cars on the world’s roads
Electric power could be the dominant form of propulsion for all new cars sold in the UK as early as 2027, with more than 1.3m electric cars registered each year, according to new automotive industry forecast analysis the government and industry-backed campaign.
Monthly figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that electric car sales in the UK have risen dramatically during the past two years. While only around 500 electric cars were registered per month during the first half of 2014, this has now risen to an average of around 2,300 per month during 2015 - with 2016 significantly outperforming the previous year so far and currently averaging more than 3,000 per month. We have already seen 30,205 plug-in cars sold in 2016, more than the whole of 2015 - and the first half of 2016 out sold the same period in 2015 by more than 30 per cent.
Jaguar Land Rover hopes to build and design electric cars in the UK - potentially creating thousands of jobs in and around its Coventry base.
Plug-in
Officially, the I-Pace is just a concept but Jaguar has confirmed the road going model will be largely similar in terms of both styling and technology. The production I-Pace is due for release in 2018. We expect it to cost significantly more than a petrol or diesel powered F-Pace, however. Entry-level models could set you back more than £50,000.
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