Jaguar Land Rover set for major investment in UK amid turmoil in market

Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, part of Tata Motors Ltd, is preparing to announce hundreds of millions of pounds worth of investment in Britain, the BBC reported on Friday.

The reported investment would be a rare piece of good news for Britain's car industry, which is now recording falling sales, investment and production.

A JLR spokeswoman described the report as speculation.

Last month, Jaguar Land Rover's owner Tata Motors Ltd reported the biggest-ever quarterly loss in Indian corporate history of about $4 billion on slumping China sales.

JLR then announced plans to cut some 4,500 jobs, mostly in Britain, as the carmaker faces lower Chinese demand and a slump in European diesel sales.

 

Also last month, Honda announced the closure of its British factory which builds over 10 percent of the country's 1.5 million cars.

British new car production nosedived 18.2 percent in January, the eighth successive month of annual declines, due to model changes and weaker demand both in Britain and major export markets, an automotive industry body said on Thursday.