Tata Motors owned, British luxury car manufacturer, iconic brand Jaguar Land Rover is mulling to invest billion of pounds in United Kingdom and has discredited its earlier plans of shutting down three plants in Britain after it reached an amicable agreement with the respective trade unions of those plants, the company reported on Friday. The company also divulged the future growth plan by way of new product offerings and creating jobs to the tune of thousands in the coming 3 decades.
Last year, Indian auto major Tata has planned a merger of two of its JLR plants in United Kingdom as part of their business strategy to deal with the economic downturn. The affect of the downturn led to decrease in the demand for the vehicles which in turn led to the production running at 60 percent capacity.
Ralf Speth, CEO of JLR was quoted as saying, that this development is a win-win situation for all the stake holders. The parent company has supported it well to tide over the economic downturn and with employees also making sacrifices but the company has seen a sudden turnaround in its fortune off lately.
Mr. Speth further said that the company has already started recruiting 1500 new workers for its factory at Liverpool. The agreement with the trade unions have recommended that all members accept a pay hike of 5 percent in the month of November this year with an auxiliary rise of 3 percent in the next year. However the new staff will have to start with lower pay-rates and will be entitled to lower premiums on shifts.
At Jaguar Land Rover’s 5 plants in Britain, a total number of more than 14,000 workers are currently employed, which is inclusive of 3 manufacturing plants. India auto major Tata Motors bagged JLR from Ford Motors in June 2008 for an estimated $2.3 billion.
