London - Arabstoday
F-TYPE cars being loaded on to a train
The first Jaguar F-TYPE customer cars left Jaguar Land Rover’s Castle Bromwich manufacturing facility Thursday. The all new sportscar has resulted in contracts worth £2.8 billion being placed with companies internationally, with in excess of £1.5
billion placed with companies in the UK.
Contracts have been awarded to more than 270 companies globally following the completion of a global competitive tendering exercise on component sourcing for the vehicle. Of these, 116 are based in the UK and 50 per cent are from the Midlands.
Jaguar Land Rover has created almost 9000 new jobs in the UK over the last two years, including 2000 new engineers and 350 to directly support the new F-TYPE. The contracts awarded to support the F-TYPE are expected to create thousands more new skilled jobs across the UK’s automotive supply chain.
Ian Harnett, Jaguar Land Rover’s Purchasing Director said, “As one of the leading investors in automotive research and development in the UK, Jaguar Land Rover generates several billion pounds of economic activity here every year. As today’s announcement demonstrates we are working with world-class suppliers to strengthen the UK automotive supply base and support our ambitious plans for growth in the future.”
Destined for customers around the world, the new Jaguar F-TYPE vehicles were loaded onto a train at the company’s onsite rail facility at Castle Bromwich earlier today. With sales in over 170 countries, Jaguar Land Rover generates export revenues approaching £11 billion each year, making it one of the UK’s largest exporters by value. It anticipates that it will export over 75 percent of Jaguar F-TYPE vehicles produced. The USA is expected to be the largest market with almost half of all sales, closely followed by the UK and Germany.
Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar’s Global Brand Director said, "Since we unveiled the car last year, the level of customer interest in the F-TYPE has been unprecedented. It is a very proud moment for us to see some of the very first customer cars leave our Castle Bromwich facility today."
The Jaguar F-TYPE has been designed, engineered and manufactured in the West Midlands, UK.