JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) has announced plans to invest £500m in upgrading its Halewood factory in Merseyside to support electric vehicle (EV) production.
The investment will be part of a larger £15bn global investment plan for electric vehicles, originally announced in 2023.
This upgrade will allow Halewood to manufacture both electric and hybrid versions of the Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport, as well as traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) models, reported BBC.
JLR has already spent £250m on new car production lines, machinery, and digital technology at the factory, with plans to invest another £250m over the coming years. This will include significant upgrades such as robots, a new body shop capable of producing 500 vehicle bodies per day, and new ovens for drying paint.
The company, owned by Tata Motors of India, also aims to have all of its vehicles fully electric by 2030. The Halewood site will be JLR's first "all-electric production facility," according to Barbara Bergmeier, JLR’s executive director of industrial operations, reported The Guardian.
JLR's slower transition to electric vehicles compared to competitors has been strategic, with the company reporting strong profits after several years of financial challenges.
JLR earned a record £7.3bn in revenue for the April-June quarter of 2024, largely due to sales of its luxury Range Rover models.
The investment in Halewood is part of broader efforts by Tata, which is also building a new battery factory in Somerset and upgrading its steelworks in Wales to electric technology. However, JLR must also comply with new UK rules that require manufacturers to increase sales of electric cars this year.
