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New Jaguar Plant Opens - 05/25/2001
Jaguar Halewood Opens After Substantial Investment; Ready to Launch the New
X-Type Sports Sedan
SOURCE: Jaguar
HALEWOOD, England, May 25 -- Jaguar Cars officially inaugurated its new $450 million plant at Halewood on Merseyside, today. The new Jaguar X-TYPE, which goes on sale in the US on August 1, is built at the plant and has safeguarded 3,000 jobs and created 500 new jobs in the new supplier park, as well as much needed associated investment in the region.
"The launch of the X-TYPE is the single biggest step in Jaguar's massive growth strategy. I am delighted to say that the Jaguar team at Halewood has achieved the first phase of what I believe will go down as one of the greatest turnarounds in British Industrial History," commented Wolfgang Reitzle, Jaguar's Chairman and Group Vice President, Premier Automotive Group. "After a huge investment program the plant is meeting Jaguar's rigorous quality standards. The X-TYPE is ready for launch to the car markets of the world."
The cornerstone of this transformation at the Halewood plant has been a significant investment in both technology and people. In total, $450 million, including a $65 million Government Grant, has been invested in the latest manufacturing technology -- 75% of the plant is new -- and over one million hours have been invested in workforce training.
"We had a perfect opportunity -- probably unprecedented in the whole industry -- to implement a vast training program in Summer 2000. During the nine-week period before the start of X-TYPE pre-production, virtually the entire workforce went through an intensive training program, covering everything from foundation skills like numeracy and information technology, to topics like Jaguar's heritage and brand, as well as further work on improving the quality and efficiency of each production area," said David Hudson, Director of Production Operations, Jaguar Halewood.
The X-TYPE is a compact sports sedan and is the fourth model in Jaguar's product line, and has been designed and developed at Jaguar's design and engineering center at Whitley in Coventry.
"We have been very pleased with the reaction to the X-TYPE from the customers, the motoring media and our Jaguar dealers across the world," added Jonathan Browning, Managing Director, Jaguar Cars.
"We believe the X-TYPE is unmistakably a Jaguar with features such as its design, and wood and leather interior. We are confident it is also fully competitive in its class with All Wheel Drive as standard and nimble handling together with practicality, versatility and the latest technology and safety equipment. We have a very healthy order bank with $150 million of orders or around four months supply, in the UK market alone where the X-TYPE will go on sale this week. In short, we are confident that the X-TYPE will be a winner and it will enable Jaguar to accelerate our dramatic growth around the world."
Over the last decade, Jaguar has developed a hard earned reputation for quality. This is reflected in the major quality surveys around the world. X-TYPE builds on this philosophy, and quality has been a core driver during the design and development of the product and with the transformation of the Halewood plant. The transformation has been implemented via a three-pillar philosophy: Quality Centers, Centers of Excellence and Culture Change.
Totally new production lines have been installed in the Body Construction and Trim-and-Final-area. In the Paint Shop, the most up-to-date equipment has been installed and the Press Shop has been fully refurbished and state-of-the-art, computerized co-ordinate measuring installed.
The investment in the future is also reflected in Jaguar's commitment to the wider community in the North West. Jaguar is a key investor in the Partnership for Learning Center located on the site. This is a unique partnership between the private and public sectors and the community to provide the skills necessary to regenerate the area.
In addition Halewood is implementing a rigorous site environmental standard to minimize any adverse impact of operations on the community. As an example, the new railhead -- opened just two weeks ago -- will enable around 70% of the total X-TYPEs to be shipped from Halewood by rail, removing over 45,000 lorry journeys from the road or 8.7 million road miles every year.
Jonathan Browning, Managing Director of Jaguar Cars added, "I would like to pay tribute to the workforce at Halewood and the entire Jaguar team who have developed the X-TYPE. This is such a significant step for Jaguar Cars. The X-TYPE will more than double Jaguars sales worldwide and when the F-TYPE is added in around 3-4 years time, Jaguar will have transformed from a 2 car line niche player to a 5 car line company which is a significant competitor to Mercedes, BMW and Lexus in every major market across the globe."
Concluding his remarks at the Opening Ceremony, Dr. Wolfgang Reitzle, Chairman, Jaguar Cars and Group Vice President, Premier Automotive Group said; "This is a great British success story. With the opening of Halewood, Jaguar will now have three major car plants, with Castle Bromwich and Browns Lane, a major engineering center in Coventry and a sizeable segment of the engine plant at Bridgend. Jaguar now represents a significant part of the motor industry in Britain and there is a bright future ahead. This is a proud day for Merseyside, a proud day for Jaguar and proud day for Ford Motor Company in Britain."
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