The Browns Lane plant in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, England was built as a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

shadow factory A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...

run by The Daimler Company Limited. In 1951 it was leased by

Jaguar Cars Jaguar (, ) is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England. Jaguar Cars was the company that was responsible for the production of Jaguar cars ...

and remained the company's home until 2005. It was the site of all Jaguar production until 1998, when production of the Jaguar S-Type commenced at the Castle Bromwich plant, which first produced Jaguar cars in 1977. It was also the firm's corporate headquarters and the home of the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust. Jaguar's production at Browns Lane waned over the years, as new models were gradually assigned to

Castle Bromwich Assembly Castle Bromwich Assembly is a factory owned by Jaguar Land Rover. It is located on the Chester Road in Castle Vale, Birmingham, England and employs 3,200 people. The plant covers an area of 110 acres (44.5 hectares), with a 60,000 m² (6-hecta ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and the former Ford

Halewood Body & Assembly Jaguar Land Rover Halewood is a Jaguar Land Rover factory plant in Halewood, Merseyside, England, and forms the major part of the factory complex in Halewood which is shared with Ford of Britain who manufacture transmissions at the site, and wh ...

Halewood Halewood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies near the city of Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Netherley, Hunt's Cross and Woolton. Historically a part of Lancashire, ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. However, the core

Jaguar XJ The Jaguar XJ is a series of full-size luxury cars produced by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars (becoming Jaguar Land Rover in 2013) from 1968 to 2019. It was produced across five basic platform generations (debuting in 1968, 1986, 1 ...

and XK ranges remained on the site until they were moved to Castle Bromwich in 2005. Subsequently, the Browns Lane site housed just the headquarters and museum as well as 500 staff responsible for wood veneering for Jaguar,

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

, and

Land Rover Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...

. Later, the headquarters moved to the

Whitley plant The Whitley plant, situated in Whitley, Coventry, United Kingdom, is the headquarters and one of the engineering centres of Jaguar Land Rover. The facility is a fully integrated design, research and development centre and is used for the design ...

Whitley, Coventry Whitley is a suburb of southern Coventry in the West Midlands of England and a major centre of the British automotive corporation Jaguar Land Rover. The name Whitley is said to mean "from the white meadow". St James' Parish Church From 1938 ...

but the Wood Shop (Veneer Manufacturing Centre), Museum and Pilot Build Workshop remained at Browns Lane. Australian property firm Macquarie Goodman announced its purchase of Browns Lane in 2007. This marked the end of Jaguar’s presence at the site after more than 50 years. The assembly halls were demolished in late 2008.

Current use

In 2010, a portion of the site was purchased by housebuilder

Taylor Wimpey Taylor Wimpey plc (formerly Taylor Woodrow plc) is one of the largest home construction companies in the United Kingdom. The company was created from the merger of rivals Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey on 3 July 2007. It is listed on the Lond ...

. In 2012, the Browns Lane Jaguar Heritage Museum was demolished. The housing estate which took its place is known as "Swallow's Nest". Jaguar's Pilot Plant continues in use. A new business park was built on the Browns Lane Plant site called "Lyons Business Park"; access to this site is from Coundon Wedge Drive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Browns Lane Plant Jaguar Cars Former motor vehicle assembly plants British shadow factories Coventry motor companies Buildings and structures in Coventry Manufacturing plants in England Motor vehicle assembly plants in the United Kingdom Demolished buildings and structures in the West Midlands (county) Demolished manufacturing buildings and structures Buildings and structures demolished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in England