New machines are making Jaguar Land Rover's latest vehicle, the fourth generation Range Rover, which JLR hopes will continue the success of four successive years of high group sales.
New technology means each Range Rover is held together by 170m of super-strong glue and 2,722 rivets, making the vehicle 420kg lighter, and so more fuel-efficient, than its predecessor. Demos Hoursoglou, the manufacturing manager at JLR’s Solihull plant, which employs over 7,000 staff, said: “The technology we use is aircraft technology.”
If the latest model is as successful, JLR will add to pre-tax profits that reached £2.5b last year as it sold 434,311 vehicles that pushed revenues to £19.4b. It is already expected to outdo this in the current 12 months.
The positive outlook for JLR’s fortunes has coincided with a recovery in Britain’s carmakers fortunes. Last year, car manufacturing in the UK hit a six-year high, rising 3.1% to more than 1.5m vehicles – the highest volume since 2007.
