Is British carmaking dead? Far from it. In fact, the West Midlands operations have come alive, as Jaguar is slowly moving production of the XE sedan from Solihull to Castle Bromwich.
This famous factory used to be where the Spitfire fighters were assembled. Keep Calm and Carry On! Anyway, the facility currently puts together the XF and XJ, not to mention the F-Type.
Over 2,000 people work there, but the company also announced a £100 million capital dump at Castle Bromwich. This investment in new press lines, body shops, and final assembly halls also supports future production projects that not have been fully divulged yet.
“The significant investment to create two centers of excellence in aluminum vehicle manufacturing, utilizing shared technologies, was deliberate. It gives us the flexibility to quickly respond to consumer demand for our growing range of products,” says Wolfgang Stadler, Jaguar Land Rover’s Executive Director of Manufacturing.
In a way, the F-Pace crossover is the real reason for the change. This is the fastest selling Jaguar of all time and requires 24-hour production at Solihull just to try and keep up with demand.
Following the debut of the F-Pace in the United States this summer, sales have skyrocketed. In August alone, the brand sold 85,726 units, representing an increase of 72% over the same month in the previous year.
The XE isn't too bad either, as the tiniest of Leapers provides a cure for the trio of Teutonic executive cars. We like that it's got a supercharger in the era of turbos. However, the F-Pace is clearly the star of the show. Not only does it offer the headroom that the XE lacks, but it can also go different places.
With the way things are going, we'll never see a Jaguar rival for the German compacts, such as the CLA-Class and Audi A3. But we'll likely see an E-Pace within a couple of years.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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