JLR invests £500m to make Halewood its ‘factory of the future’

Luxury car marque, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), is investing £500m into its Halewood manufacturing site in Knowsley to create a ‘factory of the future’.

It will transform the plant, which employs around 4,000 staff, to support the parallel production of electric vehicles, alongside existing combustion and hybrid models.

Originally built in 1963 to produce the Ford Anglia, Halewood is being transformed for the electric era.

With £250m already invested, the transformation so far has involved more than one million hours of construction work over the last 12 months.

The site has been extended by 32,364 sq m to produce JLR’s medium‑sized electric luxury SUVs on the new Electric Modular Architecture (EMA) platform.

The historic plant has been fitted with technology including new EV build lines, 750 autonomous robots, ADAS calibration rigs, laser alignment technology for perfect part fitment and the latest cloud-based digital plant management systems to oversee production, creating the ‘factory of the future’.

This investment is part of JLR’s commitment to its Reimagine strategy, which will see the Indian-owned group electrify all its brands by 2030, with the aim of achieving carbon net zero across its supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.

Electrification is central to this strategy and JLR says Halewood has an exciting future producing ICE, PHEV and BEV models side by side before eventually becoming JLR’s first all‑electric production facility.

Barbara Bergmeier, Executive Director, Industrial Operations, said: “Halewood has been the heart and soul of JLR in the North West of England for well over two decades, producing vehicles such as the Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport.

“Halewood will be our first all‑electric production facility, and it is a testament to the brilliant efforts by our teams and suppliers who have worked together to equip the plant with the technology needed to deliver our world class luxury electric vehicles.”