Jaguar Land Rover opens in Brazil

Carnival time for the Evoque.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is continuing its resurgence as a truly global brand with the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Brazil. Although historically JLR has been present throughout the globe, the new Brazilian factory, which is located close to Rio de Janeiro, will be the very first that they own outright and is destined to construct the Land Rover Evoque, the rock star in the JLR range.

The new manufacturing plant will enable the company to build sales momentum in the South American giant, where JLR has managed to see an 11% growth just in the first five months of this year and where one in three Sports Utility Vehicles are in fact Land Rovers. Much of the content of the new locally built Land Rovers will be sourced from within Brazil and parts for the seats, cockpit, exhaust, undercarriage and much of the engine will come from local assemblers.

JLR plans to make the plant the first in the region to achieve the LEED Gold sustainability accreditation and thus will feature things like rainwater collection and self-generating electricity, as well as having embarked on a major tree planting initiative. JLR is taking this one step further by also creating its first overseas Education Business Partnership Centre that will educate 12,000 local kids each and every year.

Eventually the plant will produce at least 24,000 cars a year, just for Brazil. This is not a big number in the auto world, but it is on top of the new engine plant in Wolverhampton where they will wrest control of their powertrains from their reliance on Ford. Of course JLR has also entered into a JV arrangement in China and has set aside some GBP680 million to double their factory in Coventry, England. It really is looking like JLR was a very shrewd purchase by Tata for India.

JLR has given us a neat infographic to explain it more; enjoy: