Jaguar Land Rover will design and build their own engines, writes Trish Whelan.
The first engine scheduled for production in the new Jaguar Land Rover engine plant in Wolverhampton in the UK next year is a 4-cylinder diesel. About 18 months later, a turbocharged 4-cylinder petrol engine will roll down the line.
For Jaguar Land Rover, the two new engines will mark the first time since the 1990s that each brand will manufacture an engine of its own design. The new plant is another milestone in each brand's long struggle to take charge of its destiny.
The company is saying little about the character and design of the new engines which will be light, powerful and, for a luxury manufacturer, surprisingly small, about 2.0 litres. They will be loaded with the latest engine advances such as turbocharging, direct fuel injection and variable valve timing, and almost certainly other innovations.
Jaguar has a rich history of designing powerful engines and Land Rover's classic diesel engines, while not overly powerful, are known to be very durable. We expect these new engines will be used in the new, small Jaguar saloon announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September and in smaller Land Rover models, such as the LR2 and Range Rover Evoque.
