Midlands car parts firm enjoying Jaguar Land Rover boom
Car parts firms across the Midlands are enjoying a boom in business thanks to the growth of Jaguar Land Rover, with the manufacturer's new i54 engine plant set to support 3,000 jobs, the Express & Star can reveal.
Car parts firms across the Midlands are enjoying a boom in business thanks to the growth of Jaguar Land Rover, with the manufacturer's new i54 engine plant set to support 3,000 jobs, the Express & Star can reveal.
JLR recorded a 49 per cent rise in worldwide sales in February, and its investment of £355 million in the West Midlands, set to create 750 jobs at its new plant, is improving the prospects of hundreds of other businesses.
The boom, fuelled by the growth of foreign markets in China and India, is being further boosted by other manufacturers, including Japanese car giant Nissan, which is building a new hatchback at its UK plant in Sunderland, creating more than 1,000 jobs.
Rachel Eade, supply chain specialist at the Wolverhampton-based Manufacturing Advisory Service, said today: "Despite a slowdown in the number of cars being bought in the UK, we are seeing a real spike in automotive production."
Up to 1,500 companies in the region, more than half of JLR's suppliers, could benefit from the ongoing expansion. Tipton firm CAB Automotive, which makes seats and interior trim for customers including Jaguar Land Rover, has seen its workforce double to 230 in recent months.
Another company to have benefited from JLR's success is Walsall Pressings based in Wednesbury Road, which makes the metal pressings and supplies most of JLR's models. It has increased its workforce from 140 at the height of the recession to 280.
Cannock-based Tallent Automotive, one of the region's biggest engine plants, supplies the chassis for every model made at Halewood, Castle Bromwich and Solihull. Its turnover last year was half a billion pounds. Employing 1,100 people, chairman Brian Francis is looking for a bigger site to be able to cater for growth.
Meanwhile, Stewart Holstead, managing director of Reliant Parts World Ltd in Cannock, said the boom in business has been noticeable over the past year. The firm also supplies General Motors parts including clutches, body shells and engines, employing 28 workers at its Orbital Way base.
