JLR confirms mini Range Rover production but will close a UK factory

Designed and engineered at Land Rover's Gaydon facility, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle the company has ever produced, but the news came as part of a JLR business plan that will see the closure of either the Jaguar factory at Castle Bromwich where it has 2000 workers or its Range Rover site at Solihull, which employs 5000 people. The company said it would make a decision next year about which site to close but there would be no enforced redundancies and up to 800 new jobs would be created at Halewood. Business secretary Lord Mandelson said he welcomed the commitment that Tata was showing in the JLR workforce. He went on: "Confirmation that the LRX is to be built at Halewood will help to end the uncertainty at the plant with the added prospect of some new jobs in the pipeline. It's a testament to the workforce who have made the plant one of the most productive in Europe. The Government has shown its support for this project with investment of £27 million announced earlier this year." JLR's new plan also outlines its continued support for the development of ultra low carbon technologies and product design to position its models more competitively in the global market place. Lord Mandelson acknowledged that trading conditions remained difficult for the car industry as a whole and warned that it was "inevitable that we will see further re-structuring across the industry". Phil Popham, managing director of Land Rover said: "The production of a small Range Rover model is excellent news for our employees, dealers and customers. It is a demonstration of our commitment to investing for the future, to continue to deliver relevant vehicles for our customers, with the outstanding breadth of capability for which we are world-renowned." More details of the new small Range Rover, due to join the Range Rover line-up in 2011, will be released next year.