Jaguar Land Rover favours Slovakia over Poland for new project

The Financial Times daily cites two people with knowledge of the decision saying the company, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, has signed a letter of intent with the Slovakian government to build the factory in the western city of Nitra.

Poland and the Czech Republic were also reportedly on a shortlist of countries which JLR had been considering for the construction of the factory.

The British car maker plans to build its first European production plant outside the UK, and has been looking for a 300-500 hectare plot for its planned factory, where it wants to build a car and parts assembly line as well as a training centre.

The factory is set to employ 6,000 people, with the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAiZ) proposing JLR land in the Legnica Special Economic Zone, close to the country’s S3 expressway.

JLR will invest about GBP 1 billion in the new plant, which will have a capacity of 300,000 cars per year, the FT reports. The first cars out of the factory gates will likely begin production in 2018.

Central Europe has become an important production hub for carmakers such as Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota and Hyundai, which have set up factories in the region as they look to lower their production costs while retaining EU market access and quality standards. (jh/rk)

Source: The Financial Times