JAGUAR Land Rover has revealed plans to build a range of electric cars in a move that gives “a vote of confidence in the UK automotive industry”.
Britain’s biggest car manufacturer’s decision safeguards jobs and delivers a filip to the industry after a series of setbacks in recent months.
An all-electric version of the Jaguar XJ sedan replacement will be the first new battery-powered vehicle, followed by others.
Investment will be made at the firm’s West Midlands factory, which employees 2,500, with other sites and supply companies benefitting from the development.
READ MORE: Jaguar Land Rover slumps to £3.6bn loss as Chinese sales slide
The JLR plant will close for six weeks while new equipment is installed and the investment follows an agreement for employees to work a four-day week as part of restructuring plans.
Batteries and motors for the new electric XJ will be also be made in the UK.
It comes after Ford said it would close its Bridgend plant with the loss of 1,700 jobs, for reasons that included the need to make its manufacturing base suitable for the vehicles it produces in future.
Dr Ralph Speth, chief executive of JLR, said: “The future of mobility is electric and as a visionary British company, we are committed to making our next generation of zero-emission vehicles in the UK.”
READ MORE: CBI calls for electric vehicle incentives for firms
The Government and union leaders welcomed the news as a “fantastic boost” to the car industry.
Greg Clark, UK Business Secretary, said that the move represented “a vote of confidence in the UK automotive industry”, adding: “It reflects our determination for the UK to be at the forefront of the development and manufacturing of the next generation of electric vehicles.”
Steve Turner, of Unite union said it was a “trailblazing” announcement.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here