Jaguar Land Rover’s new UK Automotive Innovation Centre will open in Spring 2017

Ratan Tata (Chairman Emeritus of Tata Group), Cyrus Mistry (Chairman of Tata Group) and Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive Officer Dr. Ralf Speth joined Professor Lord Bhattacharyya (Chairman and Founder of WMG) to unveil the foundation stone for the new National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC) at the University of Warwick today.

The ceremony marked the formal launch of the construction phase for the £150 million project which will create a new, cutting-edge UK automotive technology, innovation and education centre. The NAIC is a partnership between the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) and UK Government’s Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE).

The 33,000 sq m facility, which is due to open in Spring 2017, will become the hub for Jaguar Land Rover’s advanced research and will boast cutting-edge workshops, laboratories, virtual engineering suites and advanced powertrain facilities, equipped to enable a full range of design, visualisation and prototyping activities.

The development of the NAIC project is the next stage in Jaguar Land Rover’s strategy to develop its global R&D and engineering capability. Jaguar Land Rover today employs more than 8000 engineers and designers in the UK and is investing more than ever before in new technologies, skills and facilities. In the financial year 2015/16 the business will invest up to £3.8bn in product creation.

Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “The National Automotive Innovation Centre will serve as a generator of new skills and new thinking, providing a perfect, collaborative environment in which to learn, research and develop the designs and technologies that will shape the vehicles and personal mobility solutions of the future.

“As well as helping Jaguar Land Rover create key technologies that will deliver new experiences for our customers; smarter, safer and more connected cars and a low-carbon future, the centre will deliver wider benefits to the UK automotive industry. The NAIC will have a significant role inspiring the engineers of tomorrow and will help develop the skills we need the UK to nurture and develop to ensure we remain globally competitive.”

Along with hosting visits from schoolchildren to inspire them to begin a STEM-based career, the NAIC will also start to address the shortage of skilled R&D staff in the automotive supply chain. The aim is to help create a pipeline of people into companies nationwide, including the creation of many apprentices in specific areas of vehicle technology.

“The NAIC builds on the success we have enjoyed as part of our long-standing relationship with WMG at the University of Warwick. This collaboration is our blueprint for how we expand our capabilities when the NAIC opens its doors,” added Dr. Speth. “I am delighted that we are now less than two years from realising the long-term strategic vision shared by Ratan Tata and Professor Lord Bhattacharyya for a national hub for automotive innovation and skills.

“Their support and investment in the development of an innovation infrastructure here in the UK will help this country – and Jaguar Land Rover – remain at the forefront of global innovation in manufacturing and engineering for decades to come.”

When the centre opens in 2017, 1,000 highly-skilled people will work at the NAIC. The NAIC will enable Jaguar Land Rover to co-locate 600 of its engineers, researchers and technologists to work collaboratively with academics and R&D specialists from across the automotive supply chain. Details of the specific research projects that will take place in the NAIC will be announced in due course, but these will be long-term, multi-disciplinary challenges – such as electrification, smart and connected cars and the Human Machine Interface.

The development of the new NAIC facility will complement Jaguar Land Rover’s product research and development centres in Gaydon and Whitley. The NAIC will become the hub for the company’s advanced research teams, while Gaydon and Whitley will continue to be Jaguar Land Rover’s centres of excellence for engineering and product development.

Clive claims that his interest in the BMC>MG story dates back to his childhood in the 1960s when the family’s garage premises were leased to a tenant with an Austin agency. However, back in the 1920s and 1930s, his grandmother was one of the country’s first female Garage Proprietors so cars probably run in his genes! Admits to affairs with Alfa Romeos, but has more recently owned an 06/06 MG TF 135 and then a 15/64 MG3 Style… Clive, who was AROnline’s News Editor for nearly four years, stood down from that role in order to devote more time to various Motor Racing projects but still contributes articles on as regular basis as his other commitments permit.

This is a really exciting centre for JLR and the engineers of tomorrow. Especially taken together with the up and running and rapidly expanding Manufacturing Technology Centre down the road at Ansty (next door to LTI).

Great news. Those in politics, education, banking etc. take note. The UK engineering, science and manufacturing industries will thrive with money, staff and vision. So please invest. Tata has shown how it can work, how about the UK banks etc. doing the same.