London : Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to announce 1,300 new jobs at its UK plant to build a new car model, as the upmarket manufacturer enters the booming sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment. The additional workforce, intended for its Solihull plant in the West Midlands region of England, coincides with Jaguar’s entry into the SUV sector with a new model.
The “crossover” vehicle is based on the C-X17 concept first unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in 2013. The new SUV is expected to fit between sister brand Land Rover’s smallest model, the Evoque, and the range Rover Sport. JLR currently employs 30,500 UK staff.
Over the past year, the company has invested nearly 1.5 billion pounds in new production facilities at its Solihull plant. JLR posted profits of 2.5 billion pounds in its latest financial year and is all set to confirm its fifth consecutive year of growth this week under Tata’s ownership.
