Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC (JLR) yesterday confirmed it would build a car plant in Slovakia, beginning a £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) project that is to be one of the biggest ever foreign direct investments in the central European nation.
The company, which is rapidly expanding its model lineup and volumes, in August said it aimed to build a plant in the western Slovak town of Nitra with an annual output of up to 300,000 cars.
JLR, owned by India’s Tata Motors Ltd, yesterday said it would begin constructing the site next year, with about 2,800 jobs created as production ramps up.
Photo: AFP
It already has a plant in China and is nearly finished building a facility in Brazil as part of a global expansion.
These are to operate alongside its British plants at Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the English midlands, and Halewood in the northwest, turning out models such as the Jaguar XE sports saloon and the Range Rover Evoque.
Volkswagen AG, Kia Motors Corp and PSA Peugeot Citroen already build hundreds of thousands of models in Slovakia, which said its membership in the eurozone helped encourage JLR to pick it over neighboring countries such as Poland.
A trade union source told reporters earlier in the year that JLR was deciding between four central European countries for the plant.
JLR has grown rapidly since it was bought by India’s Tata in 2008, but has suffered in recent months due to a blast at China’s Tianjin port, which destroyed thousands of its cars, and a sharp decline in sales in China earlier in the year.
Separately, Ford Motor Co on Thursday said it would introduce 13 new electrified vehicles worldwide by 2020, including an updated Focus sedan that is to go on sale late next year.
The new Focus is to have fast-charging capability and an estimated 161km range, up from 122km in the current electric Focus.
Ford also plans to introduce the Mondeo hybrid sedan and the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid in China next year, the company said at a news conference in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ford currently sells electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of its Focus, Fusion, C-Max and Lincoln MKZ sedans. Ford CEO Mark Fields said the company wants 40 percent of its global offerings to come in electric versions by 2020, up from 13 percent now.
Ford said it plans to spend an additional US$4.5 billion to meet its electrification goals by 2020.
Additional reporting by AP
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