Indian-owned car company Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) have said in a statement they want to manufacture electric models in the UK, saying it would make sense to build the cars in its home market.
The announcement comes as a further post-Brexit boost to the British car industry, Jaguar Land Rover being the biggest British carmaker having built around 30 percent of the UK’s 1.7 million cars in 2015. The company is owned by a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Tata Group, Tata Motors Limited.
Ralf Speth, JLR chief executive, had hinted recently that the firm would like to bring more production to the UK, with the company already operating three car manufacturing plants in England.
“The UK is the home of our engineering and design process, it would be great if we could also build our electric vehicles here, specifically in the West Midlands,” said Speth in the statement. “These plans are dependent on various conditions, however, such as scientific support, government initiatives and pilot testing.”
The government have made a tangible effort to promote Britain as a prime location for innovative companies to manufacture their products over the past few years and last Friday authorities announced $490 million of funding to support clean energy production.
Nissan recently said they would manufacture two brand new models at the largest car plant in the UK following pledges by PM Theresa May over government support.
JLR were not immediately available for extra comment regarding job creation or a timeframe for their plans to build electric cars in Britain.
“We think JLR are going to hold out for the same kind of governmental subsidies that Nissan secured a few weeks ago,” said James Coleman, Managing Director and co-head of Portfolio Trading at Softbank CIBC International. “It’s pretty obvious why this statement is coming out now. They are laying the groundwork for negotiations. And the government will be sitting up and taking notice, a new electric vehicle manufacturing plant in the UK is a pretty big carrot.”
JLR currently builds their first electric model in Austria and showed it off at a car show in California two weeks ago.
