Jaguar to build lightweight aluminium Land Rovers in its new Slovakia plant

Jaguar Land Rover has announced the location of its new production facility in central Europe. It is to come up near Nitra in western Slovakia. There were speculations regarding the location of the company’s latest plant, with Poland being considered as the preferred site in eastern Europe. However, JLR has confirmed it has finally signed a letter of intent for the potential development of a new factory in Slovakia. JLR is the manufacturer of the highly fuel-efficient aluminium-intensive XE.

The upcoming facility is intended to help the company substantially scale up its production, with a feasibility study set to explore plans to create capacity for up to 300,000 vehicles. This could help boost JLR’s global output taking it to around 800,000 vehicles per year. JLR has confirmed the new plant would churn out the latest, lightweight, fuel-efficient aluminium Land Rover models, with the first slot due off the assembly line in 2018. The factory is intended to add to existing plants rather than replace them.

Ralf Speth, chief executive officer JLR, commented at the development: “The expansion of our business globally is essential to support its long-term, resilient growth. As well as creating additional capacity, it allows us to invest in the development of more new vehicles and technologies, which supports jobs in the UK."

The Jaguar F-Pace, Jaguar XE, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque are all currently manufactured in the UK. It has not been announced yet exactly which models will be built in Slovakia, but prime contenders include Land Rover Discovery 5 and the replacement for Land Rover Defender.