Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) may open a plant in Southeastern US

Report are surfacing that JLR may open a plant in Georgia after executives spoke with Georgia Governor last month. If this deal goes through, what vehicle will they build in the US?

There may be a deal in the works between JLR executives and the southeastern state of Georgia about the possibility of a new plant that could build as many as 200,000 vehicles per year. This report came late last year from the UK’s Sunday Times and if correct would be big news for some lucky US state. Merry Hunter Hipp (Spokeswomen for the Governor) declined to comment on the meeting “due to the sensitive nature of these ongoing business communications”.

Those involved in the recent meetings in Georgia are keeping tight lipped about the details or even specifics of the meeting. Apparently the meeting took place with Governor Nathan Deal last month to talk about possible financial support from his state for a new Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) factory.

Those who may be asking, why build a plant to manufacture these vehicle here in the states…its simple, it’s all about profit. If JLR were to start building vehicles in the states they could avoid import tariffs and also reduce loss of profits by fluctuating currency rates. In the end it could mean profitable gains for Jaguar. Even though Jaguar’s newest plant recently opened in China, and there are plans to open another plant in Brazil in 2016, there is a trend of foreign automakers using southern states to build new cars. Mercedes-Benz has a plant in Alabama, BMW, Kia, and Volkswagen all have plants in this same region of the southeast.

Although there is an increase in the interest of automakers to open new plants in the southeast region of the US, the automakers will need some financial incentives to attract them to build these plants. This is also a great opportunity for the local economy to put people to work in these plants and create good paying jobs. I’m sure many states giving the opportunity would love to bid on a JLR plant locating in their state. Stay tuned to Torque News for more details as they arrive.