Jaguar Land Rover plans new facility in Brazil

Jaguar Land Rover will become the first British carmaker to open a manufacturing facility in Brazil following a landmark agreement between the company and state authorities to build a plant in the State of Rio de Janeiro.

An agreement paving the way for construction of the plant has been signed by Phil Hodgkinson, global business expansion director of Jaguar Land Rover, and Sergio Cabral, state governor of Rio de Janeiro.

Jaguar Land Rover'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. This new facility will play an important role in supporting the significant growth opportunity identified in Brazil and across other South American markets.

Dr Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, said, "Brazil and the surrounding regions are very important. Customers there have an increasing appetite for highly capable premium products. 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."

Based in the City of Itatiaia, the new programme represents a total investment of approximately Rs. 2413 crore (£240m) by 2020 and the construction for this premium manufacturing facility will commence in mid-2014. It is anticipated that the first vehicles will 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.

The new plant will have a capacity to build 24,000 vehicles annually for the Brazilian market and will employ almost 400 people, which is expected to almost double by the end of the decade.