Jaguar Land Rover has revealed it is investigating the possibility of opening a new manufacturing facility in Brazil.
JLR Director – Group Sales Operations, Phil Popham has been reported telling Indian media at the recent Frankfurt Motor show, that the company was already in talks with Brazilian authorities.
If the move was to go ahead it would solidify the company’s global presence alongside its current manufacturing plant in India and the current development of its new factory in China.
“We believe that to keep that momentum going, then we may have to manufacture some products there, (Brazil)” he told The Hindu’s Business Line. “We are in discussions with the Brazilian government about the potential to manufacture there.”
The news is just another snippet of how JLR is cementing itself in the world of automotive manufacturing and staking its claim as one of the industry’s major forces.
Earlier this month, JLR unveiled its advanced research and development plans with details of a new £94m technology, innovation and education centre to open in 2016.
The National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) in Warwick will be designed to create a large-scale collaborative research environment, bringing together academics, researchers and engineers from across JLR and its supply chains in one facility.
JLR is the lead partner in the project having invested £50m, along with additional funding from Tata Motors European Technical Centre, Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Government’s Higher Education Funding Council England.
Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2014 on the University of Warwick campus, with 1000 people set to work in a building featuring engineering workshops and laboratories, advanced powertrain facilities and design, visualisation and rapid prototyping technologies.
