What's all this about?
It has been a good week for UK manufacturing with three car manufacturers announcing multi-million pound investment plans. Over £1 billion is to be spent by Jaguar Land Rover, London Taxi Company and Honda on building new models in Britain.
What's going on?
The largest investment comes from Jaguar Land Rover, which is putting £600 million into production and engineering facilities in the midlands. Much of the spending has gone on a new aluminium body shop at the company's Castle Bromwich factory to support production of the new Jaguar XF. In addition, the Advanced Design and Engineering Centre in Coventry is set to expand to support the creation of 'high technology, ultra-low emissions vehicles'.
Geely, owners of the London Taxi Company, is also investing in engineering to develop and build the next generation 'Black Cab'. One thousand jobs will be created as part of a £250 million plan to build a new development and assembly facility near to the existing factory in Coventry. The successor to the current TX4 is due to launch in late 2017, ready to meet tighter emissions regulations that come into force from 2018 for London taxis.
Honda's plans involve spending £200 million to turn its UK factory in Swindon into the 'global production hub' for the five-door Civic range. As well as producing cars for the UK and Europe the plan is to export cars around the world, increasing the volume of models built to achieve greater economies of scale. A consequence of the decision to concentrate on building the Civic is that production of the next generation CR-V will move to Ontario, Canada.
Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, commented on the announcements: "It has been a fantastic week for UK automotive, with more than £1 billion earmarked by vehicle manufacturers for new model production that will drive further growth for the sector. Honda's decision to build its next generation Honda Civic, a global car in an important and growing segment, here in the UK caps off a record six days - the first time three manufacturers have announced nine-figure investments over such a short period of time."
John Lambert - 1 Apr 2015