 "Jaguar Land Rover to invest Euro 1 billion in Slovakia")
Tata Motors-owned British brands Jaguar Land Rover will invest Euro 1 billion (Rs 7,300 crore) for a manufacturing facility in Slovakia. The announcement follows an agreement between the company and the Government of the Slovak Republic to build a new plant in the city of Nitra, western Slovakia.
The facility, which will employ around 2,800 people, will start operations from from late 2018. Ralf Speth, Chief Executive Officer, Jaguar Land Rover said, "The new factory will complement our existing facilities in the UK, China, India and Brazil and marks the next step in the company's strategy to become a truly global business. Slovakia has an established premium automotive sector, which represents 43 per cent of the country's overall industry."
The region has more than 300 suppliers in close proximity and an excellent logistics infrastructure, said JLR. The new plant will manufacture a range of all-new aluminium Jaguar Land Rover vehicles. The factory will have an initial capacity of 150,000 vehicles and construction will commence in 2016.
Jaguar Land Rover opened a new joint venture in China and commenced construction of its local manufacturing plant in Brazil at the end of 2014. There are plans to expand its advanced engineering and design centre at Whitley, Coventry and invest in the National Automotive Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick.
Jaguar Land Rover has selected Slovakia as the location for its next manufacturing site following robust analysis of a number of locations around the world including other European countries, United States and Mexico, a release stated.