100 new jobs as Jaguar Land Rover chooses Coventry for tech centre investment

Jaguar Land Rover has announced its chosen location for the OEM’s Special Vehicle Operations Technical Centre. The Technical Centre will be situated in Prologis Park, Ryton, near Coventry, and will become the global centre of excellence for the creation of high-end luxury bespoke commissions and extreme performance vehicles. Operations are set to begin towards the end of the year, with a team of 150 Jaguar Land Rover specialists based at Ryton, around 100 of which highly-skilled engineering and technician jobs will be new.  £20 million will be invested in installing specialist equipment and a customer commissioning suite.

The Technical Centre will be part of the company’s Special Operations, created in June under the leadership of John Edwards to focus on meeting the increasing expectations of today’s most discerning and enthusiastic Jaguar and Land Rover customers.  Its unique facilities will feature a VIP customer commissioning suite for bespoke services and premium vehicle personalisation, as well as Formula One-inspired flexible workshops and a specialist paint studio.

Managing director of Jaguar Land Rover special operations, John Edwards, commented: “We are excited by the capability and potential that this new facility will give us.  We will be creating truly iconic vehicles that reinforce the global reputation of both Jaguar and Land Rover brands as we expand our product portfolio and fulfil our ambitious plans.”

The location will complement Jaguar Land Rover’s engineering, design and testing facilities at Whitley and Gaydon, as well as the new Jaguar Heritage workshop at Browns Lane, Coventry and the company’s advanced manufacturing facilities.

The first vehicle to roll out of the new SVO workshop will be the Jaguar F-TYPE Project 7, the most powerful and fastest production Jaguar to date. Only 250 models will be made available worldwide, and each F-Type Project 7 will start life at the company’s plant in Castle Bromwich, before transferring to the Special Operations Technical Centre to complete the build by hand.

Jaguar Land Rover’s strategic growth plans will see the company investing in 50 new product actions over the next five years.  This includes £1.5 billion to introduce an all-new, technically-advanced aluminium vehicle architecture in forthcoming models, beginning with the new Jaguar XE premium sedan to be manufactured from 2015 at the company’s Solihull facility.  The new Land Rover Discovery Sport, which will go on sale in 2015, will be the most versatile and capable vehicle in the compact SUV segment.  It is the first member of a new family of Discovery vehicles, inspired by the Discovery Vision Concept which was showcased at the New York International Auto Show in April 2014.