The Hummingbird Bike engineered by Prodrive is the world’s lightest folding bike and is now on sale from £3,495. The bike has been in development for more than 18 months and is the British motorsport and advanced technology group’s first venture into cycling, weighs just 6.9 kg and has a unique three-step folding mechanism, which allows the bike to be collapsed in just five seconds. As … [Read more...]
Tradelines 6 September
The Welsh Automotive Forum has a new operations’ manager. Mr Robert O’Neil has worked in the automotive sector over 20 years, working at Robert Bosch Automotive in the UK as well as serving a four-year international assignment in Austria. More recently, he was with Tenneco in Merthyr Tydfil. Rob has extensive experience in plant logistics and will be a great asset to Members and said, “I am … [Read more...]
Newslines 11 August
JLR has reported a 14% drop in UK registrations. It has been a challenging market, the company said, but sales in China have grown and it’s still pushing ahead with massive R&D investment and adding 5,000 jobs, mostly in manufacturing. BMW is incentivising buyers and offering £2,000 trade in allowance against their latest models emitting under 130gkm. The deal is in addition to … [Read more...]
Newslines 19 June
Jaguar Land Rover is planning for an extra 5,000 engineers and technical staff in the next year, the Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday. Thee recruitment drive could be announced this week to focus on electronic and software engineers as the industry adapts to develop autonomous vehicles but a shortage may mean bringing in foreign workers or contracting outside the UK. It’s Ride to Work … [Read more...]
Wales’ Ford workers face ballot on strike
About 2,000 Ford Bridgend Engine Plant workers will next month be asked to consider industrial action over future investment. UNITE leader Len McCluskey visited the plant last month and met workers as part of his national re-election campaign. They told him they were concerned about job losses when production of JLR engines finishes the end of this decade and the plant will only make power … [Read more...]
£110 Million EV investment sparked by UK
Britain awarded £110 million to help boost manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries, including a project to build the country's second purpose-built electric battery plant and another to make the technology more powerful. The funding for 38 projects, including £62 million for low-emission cars and £31 million for self-driving vehicles, will help protect almost 2,400 jobs, the Department for … [Read more...]
Newslines 13 March
The RAC Foundation says just over 300 road bridges in Wales are not maintained to the correct standard by local councils. About £100M needs to be spent to allow them to carry the biggest lorries using the roads network with the worst in Conwy, the greatest number in Powys with most expensive repairs needed in Denbighshire. Jaguar Land Rover is beginning construction work on a £200 million … [Read more...]
Newslines 3 March
After two months of rises at the pumps, the price of petrol and diesel stabilised in February, according to RAC Fuel Watch data. In Wales, diesel dipped by 12p a litre while unleaded rose 9ppl and nationally unleaded finished the month at 120.23p a litre, a very slight increase on the figure of 120.05p seen on 1 February, and diesel at 122.25p, having started at 122.31p, meaning the country is … [Read more...]
Profits pushed back at JLR by rising spending
India's Tata Motors reported a 96 percent fall in net profit for its third quarter, citing sharply lower earnings at its British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover and losses in its domestic business. Consolidated net profit for the three months to Dec. 31 fell to 1.12 billion rupees from 29.53 billion a year earlier, the company said on Tuesday. Total income from operations fell 4.3 percent to … [Read more...]
New engines stolen from JLR plant
JLR and West Midlands police are probing the theft of a reported £3M of engines from its power train operations near Solihull. Police have been told a lorry tractor-unit visited the Damson site twice over 31 January and 1 February and drove away two trailers loaded with new engines. The trailers have since been found empty and been examined by forensics officers for traces of operators or … [Read more...]