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JLR reveals future plans for R & D in the UK
24th September 2013
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has unveiled plans for a £100 million R&D centre in Warwick that will employ 1,000 researchers and engineers.
The company expects to more than double the size of its advanced research team to 500 people by the time the NAIC opens in 2016. The new facility will complement JLR’s product creation centres in Gaydon and Whitley, to create a large-scale collaborative research environment.
The National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) will bring academics from the UK’s leading universities together with researchers and engineers from JLR and the supply chain, in a single, multi-purpose, state-of-the-art research facility.
“The UK automotive industry is already world-renowned for its R&D and engineering capabilities, a fact that helps to attract significant investment from global automotive companies,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. “The National Automotive Innovation Campus will help the UK stay at the forefront of automotive innovation, boosting government and industry efforts to enhance the domestic supply chain and manufacturing sectors.”
Jaguar Land Rover is the lead partner in the project investing £50m, along with Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC), WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group ) and the UK Government’s Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE).
Construction of the nearly £100m NAIC is scheduled to begin in September 2014 and will feature engineering workshops and laboratories, advanced powertrain facilities and the latest advanced design, visualisation and rapid prototyping technologies.