Jaguar Land Rover Building New R&D Facility to Focus on Hybrids, Self-Driving Cars
Jaguar Land Rover is building a new R&D facility in the UK that will specialize in developing hybrid and electric powertrains along with autonomous vehicles.
The British automaker revealed details on the new center, which will be located in central England and based at Warwick University in Coventry. It will be the first center of its kind in the UK to fully link automaker research with higher education.
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The company will also be expanding its research staff by 150 employees to 500 total by the time the center opens in 2016. Other fields that the center’s R&D will focus on include vehicle connectivity, on- and off-road handling and design. It does hint that the British automaker is not only exploring options for hybrid and electric powertrains in future models, but that it will also be investing into self-driving vehicles.
Another goal for the new center is to keep Jaguar Land Rover competitive with BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Both German automaker invest heavily into R&D and have state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to developing new technologies for their vehicles.
Construction of the new center is scheduled to begin in September 2014.
[Source: Automotive News Europe]
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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