Whitley plant

Coordinates: 52°22′59″N 1°29′27″W / 52.3830°N 1.4909°W / 52.3830; -1.4909

Jaguar at entrance of the plant

The Whitley plant, situated in Whitley, Coventry in the West Midlands of England, is one of the engineering centres of Jaguar Land Rover and the headquarters of Jaguar Cars. The facility is a fully integrated design, research and development centre and is used for the design and development of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.

History

The Whitley plant.

The site now occupied by the Whitley plant was originally an airfield, built during the First World War.

In the early 1920s the site and its associated buildings were bought by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Co. Ltd. From 1923 until the end of the Second World War several aircraft types, including the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin and the Hawker Hart biplanes and the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bomber were built at the site.

After the Second World War, Armstrong Whitworth concentrated its guided missile work at the plant, including the development of the Sea Slug surface-to-air missile. In 1968 Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, who had by then absorbed the Armstrong Whitworth company, closed the site with the loss of 2,260 jobs.^[1] Work being carried out at the site on the Nike-Ajax and Sea Dart missiles was transferred to Hawker Siddeley Dynamics plants in Hatfield, Cheadle Hulme and Lostock.^[1]

The Rootes Group, by then owned by Chrysler Europe, purchased the 187 acre site from Hawker Siddeley Dynamics in 1969 for the purpose of centralising all its design and engineering teams onto one site.^[2] From 1970 Rootes used the site for the design of all their new trucks and cars.^[3] In 1978 Chrysler sold its European operations to Peugeot, and the Whitley plant was taken over by Peugeot-Talbot.^[3] By 1985 Peugeot had moved all its design and development activities to Paris and the newly privatised Jaguar Cars bought the plant and following a refurbishment, established its engineering centre there in 1987.^[3]

In 2005 Jaguar Cars moved its headquarters to join its engineering centre at the Whitley site, after scaling down its operations at its Browns Lane plant.

Environment

The Whitley plant and the surrounding green land.

The Whitley plant is surrounded by green land, and a lake, woods and the River Sowe are nearby. These would be under threat if the plant were to be expanded. Some of the former playing fields of Whitley Abbey Comprehensive School were sold by the council to Ford who owned Jaguar at the time.

The associated expansion of the Whitley facility and the building of a new industrial park in the surrounding green fields and woods is a controversial local issue.

See also

• Jaguar Land Rover Gaydon Centre

References

Jaguar Land Rover Subsidiaries and divisions Jaguar Land Rover Daimler Chery Jaguar Land Rover (Joint venture) Facilities and places Browns Lane plant (closed) Castle Bromwich Assembly Gaydon Centre Halewood Body & Assembly Solihull plant Whitley plant Products Current Jaguar models F-Type XF XJ XK Historic Jaguar models 1935–1948 2½ Litre saloon 1935–1949 1½ Litre saloon 1937–1948 3½ Litre saloon 1948–1954 XK120 1948–1951 Mark V 1951–1957 Mark VII (& VIIM) 1954–1957 XK140 1950s C-Type 1950s D-Type 1955–1959 Mark 1 1957–1959 Mark VIII 1957–1961 XK150 1959–1961 Mark IX 1959–1967 Mark 2 1961–1966 Mark X 1961–1974 E-Type 1960s E-Type Lightweight 1963–1968 S-type 1966–1970 420G 1966–1968 420 1966–1968 240 & 340 1968–1987 XJ6 Series 1, 2 & 3 1972–1992 XJ12 1975–1996 XJ-S 1985–1992 XJR-5 through XJR-17 1992–1994 XJ220 1997–2006 XK8/XKR (X100) 1999–2008 S-type 2001–2009 X-type Current Land Rover models Defender Discovery/LR4 Freelander/LR2 Range Rover Range Rover Sport Range Rover Evoque Historic Land Rover models Range Rover Classic Series I Series II Series III Other Daimler vehicles Jaguar vehicles Land Rover vehicles Category

Tata Motors Tata Group Subsidiaries and divisions Jaguar Land Rover Daimler Jaguar Land Rover Tata Daewoo Tata Hispano Tata Motors Cars Joint ventures Chery Jaguar Land Rover (50%) Fiat India Automobiles (50%) Tata Marcopolo (51%) Tata Hitachi Construction Machinery (40%) Facilities and places Castle Bromwich Assembly Gaydon Centre Halewood Body & Assembly Pune Plant Sanand Plant Solihull plant Whitley Plant Wolverhampton Plant Products Cars Indigo Manza Nano Bolt Zest Pickup trucks Xenon Crossovers/SUVs Aria Sumo Grande Sumo Safari Dicor Safari Storme Vans Venture Winger Commercial trucks Ace Magic Magic Iris Construck Novus Prima Buses Golbus Hispano Golbus Marcopolo Bus Starbus Discontinued 407 Estate Mobile Sierra Vista Concept Aria Coupe Cliffrider Elegante Indica Silhouette OneCAT Xover Other Daimler vehicles Jaguar vehicles Land Rover vehicles T1 Prima Truck Racing Championship Category