Jaguar Land Rover weighs engine factory in the UK

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is considering building an engine factory in the UK, as the Tata-owned-carmaker looks to keep pace with surging demand for the marquee cars, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

The new plant could come up either at Wolverhampton or South Wales and might employ 1,000 people, the paper, quoting people familiar with the developments, said.

“JLR has ambitious plans for growth and there are many matters related to this. We have no comment beyond that,” a company spokesperson told DNA Money from London.

This development comes after Ralf Speth, chief executive of JLR, said last month that the company plans to award $3.3 billion worth of contracts to UK suppliers over the next five years, a development that got a thumbs-up from the country’s business secretary, Vince Cable. This is also after JLR has bounced back strongly after the financial slowdown of 2009: the company has expanded its workforce from 14,500 in 2009 to almost 18,000 today.

JLR currently is dependent on Ford for its engines, under a long-term contract it has with the US carmaker.

Experts believe the company’s plan to expand production volumes as it develops new models independently of Ford could see it sourcing engines from Ford and also develop its own engines.