Jaguar Land Rover reveals R&D plans for UK

Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled details of its future plans for advanced research and development in the UK which will now be focused on a new cutting-edge technology, innovation and education centre in Warwick.

The National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) is designed to create a large-scale collaborative research environment. It will bring academics from the UK’s leading universities together with researchers and engineers from Jaguar Land Rover and our supply chain, in a single, multi-purpose, state-of-the-art research facility.

Jaguar Land Rover is the lead partner in the project investing £50m, along with Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC), WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group ) and the UK Government’s Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE).

Construction of the nearly £100m NAIC is scheduled to begin in September 2014 at the University of Warwick.  Around 1000 academics, researchers, technologists and engineers will work in the building, which will feature engineering workshops and laboratories, advanced powertrain facilities and the latest advanced design, visualisation and rapid prototyping technologies.

Dr. Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “Investing in collaboration, innovation, research and education is vital if we want to be on a par with our international competitors.  Our future sales success, the success of our global business – and the UK economy – lies in the engineering and innovation that will take place in NAIC.”

The development of the NAIC project is the next stage in Jaguar Land Rover’s long-term research strategy and builds on the success Jaguar Land Rover has enjoyed as part of its long-standing relationship with WMG at the University of Warwick. Nearly 200 Jaguar Land Rover researchers and engineers are currently based at WMG, collaborating with university experts on a number of projects. Jaguar Land Rover expects that it will more than double the size of its advanced research team to 500 people by the time the NAIC opens in 2016.

Antony Harper, Jaguar Land Rover’s Head of Research, said: “We are looking at long-term, multi-disciplinary challenges  such as electrification, smart & connected cars and Human Machine Interface will help us create some key new technologies that will deliver a low-carbon future.”

The NAIC, which will be a 30,000 square metre technology, innovation and education centre, will become a centre of training and skills to help ensure we have enough young people wanting to develop a career in engineering and manufacturing.