Revving up

Confirmation that Jaguar Land Rover is to open a car factory in Slovakia has been hailed as “great news” by Unite.

The deal with the Slovakian government will see the British based company build a new plant in the city of Nitra.

Nearly 3,000 jobs will be created at the ÂŁ1bn facility, with union chiefs pointing out that this will in turn allow JLR to make more money to invest in its UK operations.

Great news

Unite’s chief negotiator with the motor industry, Roger Maddison, said, “This is great news and shows how successful the UK workforce has made JLR over the past few years, to allow it to grow across the world.

“Unless we grow we won’t be as successful as the BMWs and Mercedes of this world.

“It is good news for the company and allows them to make more money to invest in the UK,” he added.

JLR opened it first overseas factory outside Shanghai in October last year and has been building a plant in Brazil.

Heart in UK

JLR chief executive Ralf Speth reiterated the group’s commitment to its UK plants.

“The heart of our company will always be in the UK, where our design, technology and manufacturing capabilities are based,” he said.

“It is our creativity and innovation which makes Jaguar Land Rover the leading boutique automotive brand, offering exceptional products for our customers.”

As part of JLR’s commitment to deliver more lightweight vehicles, the Slovakian plant will manufacture a range of all-new aluminium Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

It is anticipated that the first cars will come off the production line in late 2018.