Regional Growth Fund - Statement by Dr Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover

12 April 2011

Jaguar Land Rover welcomes the announcement by Government of investment in high‑technology and business growth to create new jobs in the UK and the conditional approval of its application to the Regional Growth Fund.

Jaguar Land Rover welcomes the announcement by Government of investment in high‑technology and business growth to create new jobs in the UK and the conditional approval of its application to the Regional Growth Fund. 

Jaguar Land Rover is the leading investor in UK automotive R&D and has ambitious growth plans. We are spending millions of pounds on research ‑ for example a £100 million investment in an advanced facility at WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) ‑working together with UK suppliers and academic institutions. This is only a part of our overall vehicle development activities; in total we will spend more than £1bn a year on product creation.

Jaguar Land Rover directly employs more than 17,000 people in the UK and supports up to 130,000 jobs in total through the supply chain, dealer network and wider economy. We have recently confirmed 1,500 new production jobs at our Halewood plant and have begun recruiting more than 1,000 additional engineers.

Some 75% of Jaguar Land Rover production is exported, returning £8bn last year in support of the UK balance of trade and export‑led recovery.

Jaguar Land Rover has two state‑of‑the‑art engineering and design facilities in the UK. Our engineers are continuously pushing the boundaries of technological innovation to develop new generations of lighter more efficient vehicles and highly advanced powertrains and this will provide impetus for further growth, increased export revenue and even more new jobs."