Land Rover (and its sub-brand Range Rover) have rightly become iconic names, occupying a special place in the history of cars.
But while we take it for granted that both these names have proud histories, the sheer size and scope of Land Rover’s global operations is a subject of plenty of curiosity around the world.
This is shown by the fact that the question ‘Where are Land Rovers made?’ is one of the most common questions asked of Google of all the queries containing the brand’s name.
So at LRParts.net, we’ve put together this article to answer this and other related questions, to give you a picture of the scale of the brand’s operations worldwide.
We think you might be surprised at the scale of the operation we found.
Out of the shadow of war
The very first Land Rover, a Defender model, registration number HUE 166, was registered in January 1949. Built by the Rover company, the vehicle became a symbol of the renaissance of the business.
Originally intended to be built at its factory in Coventry, production started instead at a ‘shadow factory’ in nearby Solihull, seven miles south-east of Birmingham, after the original plant suffered severe bombing damage during World War II.
The man behind the design of the Land Rover was Maurice Wilks. He had been impressed by the success of the American-made Willys Jeep - even using one on his own farm in Anglesey, north Wales.
He felt the main market for his new vehicle would be in helping rebuild Britain’s farming industry after the war, and he envisaged it being similar to the German company Daimler’s Unimog.
Of course, there was likely to be strong demand for such a vehicle all over the world - and so it has proved.
Today Jaguar Land Rover makes cars in six countries around the world. But it’s still proud to be the biggest car-maker in the UK.
Jaguar’s saloon and sports cars are made in a separate factory, in a former aircraft-making plant in Castle Bromwich, which has been in operation since 1936.
Heading east
The most recent expansion has seen Jaguar Land Rover open a new factory in Slovakia. Opened in October 2018, it has the capacity to build 150,000 vehicles a year.
Apart from the above plant and the original factory in the UK, Land Rovers and other vehicles in the group such as the Range Rover models, are now built in Brazil, China and India.
Associated technical development is also carried out at plants in the Republic of Ireland and America.
Summer 2016 saw the Brazilian plant mentioned above come on stream. Focusing on this very important market for the company and other countries on the South American continent, its workforce builds up to 24,000 Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque models each year.
Testimony to the worldwide popularity of these two models is also found in that they also form a large proportion of the models rolling off the production line of JLR’s factory in Changshu, China.
Unique variants
Opening in 2014, it also makes the E-Pace electric SUV and two models unique to the Chinese market - effectively ‘stretched’ versions of the Jaguar XE and XF models.
Such is the Evoque’s popularity in China that this plant now makes one in five of all of this model produced worldwide.
JLR has also had a factory in Pune, India since 2011. At first, it put together cars exported from the UK as kits. But again, the worldwide popularity of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque models here has led to these taking a major share of production time.
Finally, the E-Pace and I-Pace electric SUV models are built in Graz, Austria as a result of a collaboration with the plant’s owner, Magna Steyr.
Two further plants are concerned with research and software development - in Shannon in the Republic of Ireland, and Portland, Oregon, US. Shannon’s workforce is heavily involved in developing electric engines and the technology needed to support driverless cars, while the Portland site’s workforce consists mainly of software developers working on the computerised systems at the heart of these technologies.
A future technical support centre is due to come on stream in Budapest, Hungary, in the next few years.
Meanwhile, ongoing help with maintaining and fixing Land Rovers and Range Rovers of all ages is available from a rich variety of independent suppliers, including us at LRParts.net.
This includes all of the parts you should need, whether it’s a handbrake kit for a Land Rover Series 2, a servicing kit for your Discovery 5, or a new set of Defender front shocks.
No matter how long and illustrious your Land Rover’s history, it can be assured of a great future too - just tell us what you need, and we’ll be on the case.
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