Jaguar Land Rover to set up manufacturing plant in Brazil

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said on Thursday that it will set up its first manufacturing  unit in Brazil with an investment of up to 240 million pounds by 2020.

A landmark agreement between the iconic British luxury carmaker and Brazilian authorities will result in a plant based in the state of Rio de Janeiro. It will initially employ 400 people and generate additional jobs in the supply chain, aimed at an annual production capacity of 24,000 vehicles.

"This new programme will enable us to bring exciting new vehicles to them, with outstanding British design and engineering, creating a world-class Jaguar Land Rover facility incorporating leading premium manufacturing technologies," said JLR chief executive Dr Ralf Speth.

"Brazil and the surrounding regions are very important. Customers there have an increasing appetite for highly capable premium products," he added.

Construction of the premium manufacturing facility will commence in the middle of 2014 and the first vehicles are expected to come off the assembly line in 2016, subject to the final approval of the plans from the Brazilian federal government under its Inovar-auto Programme.

Based in the City of Itatiaia, JLR's planned expansion into Brazil is the next major step in the company's strategy to increase its global manufacturing footprint and create additional capacity by tapping into the South American market potential.

"The choice of Rio de Janeiro to host the Jaguar Land Rover's new facility is another historic achievement for our state. We offer perfect conditions to JLR to install its plant in Brazil, as we have an automotive hub in the South Fluminense region that concentrates qualified labour and important suppliers," said Sergio Cabral, Governor of Rio de Janeiro State, who signed the agreement in Rio alongside JLR's global business expansion director, Phil Hodgkinson.

The UK-based carmaker has had a presence in the Brazilian market for more than 20 years, with a national sales company in Sao Paulo employing almost 100 people. There are currently 35 dealers across Brazil with further expansion planned in the next year.

So far in 2013, Jaguar Land Rover sales in Brazil have increased by more than 40 per cent to 9,549 vehicles over the 10 month period.

The best-selling models in the country include Range Rover Evoque, Freelander and Discovery.

JLR has three advanced manufacturing facilities in the UK and is in the process of building its first state-of-the-art advanced engine facility at 54 South Staffordshire Business Park in the West Midlands region of England at an investment of over 500 million pounds, creating almost 1,400 new jobs.