Jaguar Land Rover is doubling the size of its U.K. engine manufacturing center as part of a £450 million ($679 million) expansion program driven by global demand for current and future models, the automaker says.
Total investment in the site, which opened a year ago, now stands at £1 billion ($1.5 billion).
The center, JLR’s first venture into in-house engine manufacturing in a generation, builds the new low-emissions Ingenium 2.0L diesel 4-cyl.
Two variants are available, producing 160 hp and 280 lb.-ft. (380 Nm) of torque and 180 hp and 317 lb.-ft. (430 Nm). Selective catalytic reduction and cooled low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation reduce oxides of nitrogen emissions and deliver Euro 6 compliance, JLR says.
In the U.S., the 2.0L turbodiesel will appear in the Range Rover Discovery Sport and Evoque CUVs, as well as the Jaguar XE and XF sedans and F-Pace CUV, by the end of 2017.
In just 12 months, the West Midlands-based facility has moved from prototype production to full-scale manufacturing of more than 50,000 engines a year.
The center is the heart of JLR’s U.K. manufacturing operations, supplying all three vehicle plants with engines.
The new development will see the site increase its operational footprint to 2.1 million sq.-ft. (200,000 sq.-m).
At full output, the expansion will double the workforce to 1,400 people and boost JLR’s global workforce to 40,000 by next year.
JLR CEO Ralf Speth says the center is a strategically significant facility for the company.
“The decision to expand our operations at the site provides a clear signal of our commitment to meeting customer demand for cleaner and more-efficient engines, while developing the skills and capability that Britain needs if it is to remain globally competitive,” Speth says in a statement.
JLR now has spent £11 billion ($16.6 billion) in new products and facility upgrades in the U.K., creating more than 20,000 new jobs in the last five years.
As of one year ago, engines were coming off the fully flexible assembly lines at rates of up to one every 36 seconds.
Also slated for production at the plant are direct-injection turbocharged 2.0L 4-cyl. and supercharged 3.0L V-6 gasoline engines.
