The United Auto Workers may soon need to add another transplant to convert as part of its Southern strategy: Jaguar Land Rover is considering setting up shop in the Southeastern United States as part of its global expansion plans.
Autoblog reports the automaker is looking over potential real estate for a new North American factory, honing in upon right-to-work states in the South such as South Carolina, where BMW already has a presence in Spartanburg assembling the X Series. The future plant would have a total capacity of 200,000 units produced per year.
Elsewhere, JLR welcomed all to its new factory in Changsu, China, where the real Evoque — as opposed to the “If you like Mrs. Beckham’s crossover, you’ll love ours” Landwind E32 — will roll off the line, with the new Discovery Sport to follow. Brazil will join the party with its own factory in 2016.
Glad to see the brand survive.
As much as I would like to see them or any large OEM set up shop in my home state of NC I know it will not happen..why I dont know. they keep losing out. I live in FL now and know they arent moving here.
NC is rapidly becoming a “purple” state… way too progressive for a transplant. You gotta go to AL, MS, GA, SC, or TN.
Or some other 3rd world country.
I’ll make you a deal, you stay out of SC and GA and I’ll make sure to do nothing but enjoy a region with one less bitch.
Oh wow. Calling me a bitch. You are so classy with your way with fancy words.
By the way, can you tell I’m scared by your tough talk?
*yawn*
whatever, little miss non Anglo-Saxan 1st world bunny. There’s nothing tough about my typing except for how you missed the irony/misogyny of me making a blind generalization. That may have been tough to understand. Awe look, we’re twins.
Calling someone (me) a bitch is a blind generalization? Maybe calling a woman a bitch has no weight or meaning where you are at but it is considered an insult and slur where I live. One more thing, own your words and stop with the backtracking.
Usually calling someone a bitch is considered a slur.
Is a Jaguar not built in England still a Jaguar?
Jaguar is going to start building, or has started building, the XJ from CKDs in Pune, India.
Oh how that must burn the imperialists.
If we’re going to be snobs, can we really consider any Jaguar designed after Sir William Lyons’ passing to be a real Jaguar?
No concerns about build location on the Land Rover side of the fence. Land Rover has had CKD factories all over the world since the 1950s.
Jaguar, Aston Martin & Land Rover are all Tata now, so no.
They could & should consolidate manufacturing operations in New Delhi, Calcutta & Mumbai, especially given the incredible devaluation that’s hit the rupee, which would give JAL a huge competitive cost of production advantage.
DW,
I think AM was sold separately to a group of PE firms, not Tata.
You’re probably correct.
I was remembering the “package” deal from Ford to Tata back in 08 or 09.
I find it incredibly hilarious that for all his British jingoism, Clarkson doesn’t more often speak of the fact that his beloved Jaguar & Land Rover, with stiff upper lips, aren’t owned lock, stock & barrel by a company HQd in an emerging nation that was once a massive British ruled territory.
I’m with you on that, DW,
But if we are going to call out Clarkson, shouldn’t we also call out all the Americans who crow about the American-ness of their Jeeps?
I hear there might be some available factory space in Toledo.
ccl, too far North! And the UAW would be the camel’s nose in the tent.
My guess would be JLR would like to go further South to a right-to-work state. My guess would be, like Hyundai/KIA, JLR would find Alabama most welcoming with Mississippi and Texas a close second.
Makes sense. JLRs UK plants are close to full capacity these days and yet somehow they an to shoe horn twice as many models into the plants as they make currently. Only way they can do that is by making more cars locally so that more of their production lines can be converted into making more than one model at a time. Their Halewood plant currently makes the Evoque and the Discovery Sport in this way and yet is working 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The new Chinese plant will help by taking some pressure off. This will then allow them to potentially put another small SUV into Halewood. But if they have a US plant as well then that would also help.
Land Rover have a very good product (well, 2!)
They’re potent.
I can see no reason why they would fail in the US.
Then the results will follow investments ; so, well… slow growth at first I would think.
With only 60k sales in the US market, I don’t know how JLR can justify building a plant here. They must have huge margins.