Currently reading: Jaguar Land Rover targets UK production increase and more models
JLR boss Ralf Speth has not ruled out the addition of a smaller model to sit below the Range Rover Evoque

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth has said there is still room for the company's UK manufacturing capacity to grow, while also refusing to rule out the possibility of a Range Rover model smaller than the Evoque in the future.

The Range Rover Velar has been revealed. Click here to view it.

Speth believes that a 20% increase in capacity in the UK was "at the lower range" of a production increase in the UK over the next three to four years at its three UK plants.

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Two of JLR's three UK plants at Solihull and Halewood operate on three shifts around the clock, with Castle Bromwich on two, and therefore an obvious place where there is room for capacity to grow.

But Speth said that changes in process and infrastructure at plants could also lead to growth in capacity, as could reconfiguring plant layouts, updating the supply chain, increasing logistics space, and improving the data in plants with the rollout of 5G connectivity to help run them. 

JLR sold 580,000 cars last year, and in addition to its UK plants, it has factories in Brazil and China and plans for another in Slovakia.

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It is soon to expand the Land Rover side of its range with the new Range Rover Velar, and the Jaguar side with the new E-Pace and electric I-Pace.

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Speth said Jaguar had been chosen for JLR's first EV as it would have been too complicated to create an EV for Land Rover due to all the off-road tech needed to make it an authentic Land Rover product.

The Defender remains a priority to replace in the Land Rover range, but Speth also refused to rule out any further additions and said that anything was possible when specifically asked about a compact SUV. 

Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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jazznick1 2 March 2017

Evoke Evolution ?

Why all this talk about an Evoke Mark 2 that is even wider. It will become just a Discovery Sport lite. The Evoke won't need to get much wider to become just that. The reason the Evoke is a hit is that it is almost a normal sized car and could fit almost any parking space in most towns (Tunbridge Wells/Chichester excepted for instance) Sort the current one out. A bit longer, OK. Why don't LR just bring the dashboard up to date with the latest electronics, improve the seating up front with a Jag style luxury seat and introduce variable suspension set ups and offer an Ingenium Petrol version. ( I don't mean continue with the current naff petrol engine at a £9k premium over the diesel either. ).
scrap 1 March 2017

I still think the new

I still think the new Defender is a mistake. Yet another premium vehicle on the same architecture will no doubt sell, but possibly at the expense of other models. A new, genuinely adaptable chassis for a hard working vehicle (pick up, station wagon or light truck) would be a bigger investment but true to the original and spread the risk.
TStag 1 March 2017

Agree with the comment that

Agree with the comment that JLR are banking everything on SUVs. Personally I'd like to see them build a new SD1 but with Range Rover levels of quality. They could easily expand the Range Rover brand into this territory. A Freelander replacement makes a lot of sense.