Jaguar Land Rover has revealed plans to manufacture a range of new electrified vehicles at its manufacturing plant in Castle Bromwich, UK. The announcement is the next significant step in delivering on the company’s commitment to offer customers electrified options for all new Jaguar and Land Rover models from 2020.
Prof. Dr. Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer of Jaguar Land Rover, 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. We are co-locating our electric vehicle manufacture, Electronic Drive Units and battery assembly to create a powerhouse of electrification in the Midlands.”
XJ goes electric
The first new electric car to be produced at the plant will be Jaguar’s flagship luxury sedan, the XJ. The choice of business leaders, celebrities, politicians and royalty for over five decades and through eight generations of production, the XJ is designed, engineered and manufactured in the UK and has been exported to more than 120 countries.
The news was confirmed to workers at Castle Bromwich as production of the current XJ came to an end. Credited with pioneering a range of industry-first innovations during its 50 years of production, the new XJ will build on the characteristics synonymous with its predecessors.
The new all-electric model will be created by the same team of designers and product development specialists responsible for delivering the world’s first premium electric SUV, and 2019 World Car of the Year, the Jaguar I-Pace.
All-new facilities
The extensive transformation of Castle Bromwich to become the UK’s first premium electrified vehicle plant will be the most significant in the plant’s history. Later this month, work will begin to commence the installation of all-new facilities and technologies required to support Jaguar Land Rover’s next-generation Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA).
Designed and engineered in-house, MLA enables flexible production of clean efficient diesel and petrol vehicles alongside full electric and hybrid models.
As Jaguar Land Rover makes its commitment to electric car manufacturing in the UK, it calls on government and industry to work together to bring giga-scale battery production to the country. This builds on the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre and the government’s Faraday Challenge, essential for next generation battery technology to create smaller, denser, cheaper batteries.