Jaguar Land Rover says its factory at Halewood in Merseyside is to become all-electric in a £15bn project that will see a new model rolling off the line in 2025. Tony McDonough reports
Jaguar Land Rover’s car assembly plant at Halewood in Merseyside is to go all-electric as part of a £15bn investment by the automotive giant.
JLR currently employs more than 3,500 people at the factory assembling the Range Rover, Evoque and the Land Rover Discovery Sport. By 2025 a new all-electric SUV model will be rolling off the production line at the site.
Chief executive Adrian Mardell reaffirmed the business’s commitment to its Reimagine strategy at a media event on Wednesday.
He said this new investment will reposition the company as an electric-first, luxury carmaker by 2030.
“Two years ago, we launched our Reimagine strategy and since then we have made great progress, including launching two new critically acclaimed modern luxury Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models,” said Mr Mardell.
“We achieved this while navigating the headwinds of the pandemic and chip shortages, and successfully ramping up production of our most profitable models to deliver profit in Q3.
“Today I am proud to announce we are accelerating our electrification path, making one of our UK plants and our next-generation medium-size luxury SUV architecture fully electric.
“This investment enables us to deliver to our modern luxury electric future, developing new skills, and reaffirming our commitment to be carbon net zero by 2039.”
In early April JLR reported big rises in both retail sales and wholesale volumes in the first three months of 2023. It said it was finally getting on top of the global computer chip shortage that had held back production for two years.
JLR confirmed on Wednesday it will start to invite applications for client orders for the modern luxury all-electric Range Rover from later this year.
The first of its next generation medium-size modern luxury SUVs will be an all-electric model from the Range Rover family, launching in 2025 and built at Halewood.
Professor Gerry McGovern, chief creative officer at JLR, added: “Pivotal to our Reimagine strategy is the formation of the House of Brands, which is a natural evolution, with a purpose of elevating and amplifying the uniqueness of our characterful British marques.
“Our ultimate ambition is to build truly emotionally engaging experiences for our clients that, overtime, will build long-term high equity for our brands and long-term sustainability for JLR.”
Close to the JLR plant in Halewood another automotive giant, Ford, is investing more than £300m to convert its transmission plant into a facility to make e-drive systems for electric cars.
And, across the River Mersey in Ellesmere Port, global car manufacturer Stellantis is investing £100m to convert the Vaxuhall Astra factory into a plant producing electric vans.