Jaguar Land Rover boost with new engine being made in Wolverhampton
Jaguar Land Rover reveals fresh boost for i54 engine plant - days after £270m loss and 4,500 job loss announcements
A new six-cylinder petrol engine is to go into production at Jaguar Land Rover's £1 billion plant on the edge of Wolverhampton.
It is a second boost for the JLR engine manufacturing centre at the i54 following the recent announcement that it will manufacture new electric drive units there.
Earlier this month the luxury car giant revealed sales were down nearly 10,000 as it reported a £273 million pre-tax loss for the last three months of 2018.
JLR sold 144,602 cars compared to 154,447 a year ago.
The company announced in January that it would reduce its global workforce by 4,500 people.
The new flagship three-litre engine is part of JLR's Ingenium series and it will be twin-charged – both electric supercharger and turbocharger.
It will be available initially on a new special edition HST model of The Range Rover Sport. It will later be used to power a range of models.
The new 400PS Ingenium in-line six, the development of which was first announced in June last year, will be available in both 265-kilowatt and 294kw versions.
It will be made alongside the current four-cylinder petrol and diesel units at the two million sq ft EMC where 1,600 are employed.
Nick Rogers, executive director of product engineering for JLR, said: “In-line six-cylinder engines are inherently better balanced than V6 designs and our all-new Ingenium unit builds on that promise to optimise efficiency in all operating conditions.
"Advanced features, including an electric supercharger, ensure distinctive Range Rover Sport performance and responses, while the intelligent MHEV (mild hybrid electric vehicle) system harvests energy to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions.”
The new engine will power the Range Rover Sport from zero to 62mph) in 6.2 seconds and give it a top speed of 140mph.
The engine is the latest step JLR has taken towards meeting its commitment of offering an electrified option on all new models from 2020.
The clever system is based around an all-new start-stop system that switches off when stationary and pairs the latest three-litre engine with an electric motor. This allows the system to harvest energy through regenerative braking and store it in a 48-volt battery for later use, such as when pulling away from a standing start.
The new engine has been designed and developed in-house by JLR.
JLR claims the new engine is 20 per cent more efficient than the current V6 petrol engine, and reduces particulate emissions by up to 75 per cent thanks to a gasoline particulate filter.
The latest Range Rover Sport HST is available to order now, priced from £81,250 in the UK.
The new engine will eventually fully replace the three-litre V6 engine currently produced for Jaguar Land Rover by Ford at its factory in Bridgend on a contract that runs to September 2020.
The all-aluminium Ingenium engines have been designed to maximise performance and environmental sustainability at the same time as driving down running costs for car owners.
The modular design enables both petrol and diesel engines to share many common internal components and calibration strategies.
