Range Rover has unveiled its first fully electric model, after a year‑long delay to its planned launch. The Range Rover Electric, to be built in Solihull, marks a major shift in its electrification programme, backed by large‑scale upgrades across its West Midlands sites. Parent company JLR said it had up-skilled 10,500 workers for electric production as it pushes ahead with modernisation despite recent financial pressures and planned job cuts.
The launch comes as the Coventry‑based carmaker faces falling profits, supply chain disruption and restructuring following a cyber attack last year. The company said the launch was being supported by new battery and electric drive unit production lines as well as training around 9,000 employees in Solihull for electrification and a further 1,500 trained across the region. JLR's Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton is now producing battery packs and electric drive units alongside internal combustion engines.
Martin Limpert, managing director of Range Rover, called the new model the result of a decade of "considered engineering". JLR's electric roll-out comes after a turbulent year with profits dropping to £66m in the first quarter after a fire at a key Norwegian supplier. The business is also undergoing restructuring, confirming that fewer than 300 roles will go less than a year after a cyber attack halted production for more than a month.
At the time of the results, the firm said new product launches would leave "JLR in good shape whilst acknowledging the continuing geopolitical, inflationary and regulatory challenges the industry faces". Tell us which stories we should cover in Birmingham and the Black Country Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external. Carmaker optimistic despite slump in profits Hundreds of jobs to go at Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover job cuts 'could have been worse'
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