UP TO 600 jobs will be created at Jaguar Land Rover after new owner Tata yesterday announced details of a £ 700 million investment plan.
The Indian company said it will recruit engineers to work on "sustainable technologies" to improve the environmental performance of its vehicles.
Tata's expansion plans come just weeks after it bought the iconic Jaguar and Land Rover marques from
Ford for £1.7 billion.
The car maker said jobs will also be created in the purchasing, finance and human resources departments. A new programme is also being launched to recruit more than 80 graduates to join the business in September.
David Smith, the newly appointed chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, said: "This recruitment drive demonstrates Jaguar and we need both experienced and newly qualified graduate engineers."
The company said that most of the jobs will be based at the firm's development centre at Gaydon, in Warwickshire. Jaguar's worldwide sales have been boosted by the popularity of the new XF saloon, the company said, while Land Rover has recorded three successive years of record sales.
Des Thurlby, Jaguar Land Rover's human resources director, said: "The work on offer is cutting edge and the rewards impressive. This business has a bright future and we think it will be a very attractive place to work."
The company employs about 16,000 staff at plants in the West Midlands and Merseyside. Jaguar Land Rover has facilities at Solihull and Castle Bromwich in the West Midlands, Whitley in Coventry, Gaydon in Warwickshire and Halewood in Merseyside.
Ford sold the two British car makers to Tata in order to fund changes to its loss making core business in the United States.
Under the deal, which was concluded earlier this month, Tata paid £1.15bn for the two companies, while Ford paid £600m into Jaguar and Land Rover's pension fund. The fee was about half what Ford had paid for the two car companies.
At the time of the sale, Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata said: "Jaguar and Land Rover are two iconic British brands with worldwide growth prospects".
In 2007, Ford also sold Aston Martin, the British sports car brand, to a UK led investment consortium.
The full article contains 373 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
