Jaguar Land Rover opens winter test facility in Minnesota

Jaguar Land Rover officially opened the new facility yesterday. It includes cold testing chambers, snow-covered test surfaces, a frozen lake, and a concrete test track with which the company will test its vehicles for all-weather driving in order to improve safety and handling.

International Falls, Minnesota is one of the coldest places in the United States, with temperatures dropping as low as -55F in the dead of winter. Jaguar Land Rover plans to use the facility to test vehicles in the most extreme of low-end environments. Many of the company's vehicles are driven in northern climates, including Canada, the northern U.S. and much of northern Europe, including Russia.

"This facility joins a growing list of Jaguar Land Rover facilities in the United States and reflects the company’s commercial aspirations in the U.S." Said Andy Gross, President of Jaguar Land Rover, North America. "Having such a facility also underscores our dedication to the all weather capabilities of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.”

Jaguar sees the United States as one of its largest global markets and building a world class winter test facility here is imperative to the company's success in North America. The facility can help test, perfect, and evolve technologies such as Jaguar's Instinctive All Wheel Drive®, which was developed primarily for this market.

Other test facilities in the U.S. include Jaguar Land Rover's hot weather test facility in Phoenix, Arizona where the all-new Range Rover was recently given extensive high-heat climate testing. Jaguar also has regional offices, training, or port facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington D.C. and the new Minnesota compound. Jaguar Land Rover, North America is headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey. The company also maintains several parts distribution alliances with Unipart and Caterpillar throughout the U.S.