Jaguar Land Rover has just announced its second year running as Britain’s largest auto manufacturer, building 544,401 cars in 2016. That number accounts for 30 percent of the country’s total domestic vehicle production, coming in at a total of 1,727,471 cars.
Under Tata’s tutelage, the British automaker reports 8 percent production growth year over year, thanks to new models—like the F-Pace and new Land Rover Discovery—that are in high demand globally. The F-Pace alone, Jaguar’s highest volume car, drove the brand’s production up by a dramatic 67 percent.
Jaguar Land Rover’s current production success stands in stark contrast with where the brand was just eight years ago in 2009. That year, the company produced only 158,000 cars. Compared to today, that number is up 240 percent.
Andy Goss, Global Sales Director for JLR, stated: “Jaguar Land Rover has once again shown that investment in new models, skills and advanced technology are critically important to ensure Britain has a thriving automotive industry—even in the face of current uncertainty.“
The British automaker has spent roughly $5 billion on three new manufacturing facilities, spread between the West Midlands and Liverpool, and reports it will spend an additional $3.7 billion or so on research and development in 2017 alone.