Jaguar Land Rover UK jobs boost

Jaguar Land Rover has received an amazing 35,000 applications for the 1,000 vacancies at its Halewood factory in Liverpool, according to CEO Ralf Speth. 

The additional jobs were announced in March, and will allow the plant to operate a three-shift rotation, 24 hours a day. The increased output is in response to strong demand for the Range Rover Evoque and Freelander 2, and the JLR expansion won’t stop there. “We will announce more new jobs in the near future,” Speth told us in Beijing.

Land Rovers and Jaguars could soon be built in China, too, if a proposed joint venture with local manufacturer Chery is granted government approval – essential for any foreign company that wants to build cars in China. Speth added: “We will start by building one [model] and take it from there.”

He later confirmed that the first Chinese-built car would be a Land Rover, which is hardly surprising given that Land Rovers outsell Jaguars by nine to one in China.