Solihull plant is a car manufacturing factory in Lode Lane, Lode Heath,
Solihull
Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...
, UK, owned by
Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...
. The plant sits on a 300-acre (121-hectare) site and employs over 9,000 people in manufacturing.
Shadow factory: 1936–1945
Originally two farms, Wharhall and Fordrove, were purchased in 1936 by the
British Government
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, image = HM Government logo.svg
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, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
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, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
on which to build a
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, ...
in preparation for any potential war with
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
[ Construction was started almost immediately, with the factory complete as a shell and placed in mothballs in late 1938.][
At the outbreak of ]World War II
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 ...
in September 1939, the factory was allocated to the 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 ...
-based Rover Company
The Rover Company Limited was a British car manufacturing company that operated from its base in Solihull in Warwickshire. Its lasting reputation for quality and performance was such that its first postwar model reviewed by '' Road & Track'' i ...
, who were assigned the task to build Bristol Hercules
The Bristol Hercules is a 14-cylinder two-row radial aircraft engine designed by Sir Roy Fedden and produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1939. It was the most numerous of their single sleeve valve ( Burt-McCollum, or Argyll, typ ...
engines.[ Named No.2 Solihull,][ after starting fitting out initial production was undertaken in ]Acocks Green
Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Acoc ...
, with machined parts supplied from Drakelow
Drakelow is a civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. It is centred a small fraction over south of Burton on Trent and has a border with that town. The population of the civil parish including Caldwell, Derbyshire and Cauldwell, Derbyshir ...
.[ Rover took possession of the fitted-out factory in January 1940, and produced the first Rover-built Hercules engine in October 1940.][ The factory became a guarded and fortified location, and air raid shelters are still in the grounds of the plant. The oldest part of the Rover factory is the present day South Works, with its late 1930s art deco facade still with wartime camouflage.
The engines were to be used in either planes or tanks, specifically ]Bristol Beaufighter
The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...
s and Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax is a British Royal Air Force (RAF) four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It was developed by Handley Page to the same specification as the contemporary twin-engine Avro Manchester.
The Halifax has its or ...
es, but mainly Short Stirling
The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The Stirling was designed during t ...
s. Locally, the majority of engines were shipped to the Austin Motors
The Austin Motor Company Limited was an English manufacturer of motor vehicles, founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin in Longbridge. In 1952 it was merged with Morris Motors Limited in the new holding company British Motor Corporation (BMC) Limit ...
Elmdon factory at Cofton Hackett
Cofton Hackett is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of north east Worcestershire, England. It is southwest of the city centre of Birmingham and northeast of Worcester. In 2011, the village had a population of 1,893 but wit ...
, part of the Longbridge plant, which produced the Stirling.[
In 2010 as part of the Land Rover Legacy Project, the ]Heritage Motor Centre
The British Motor Museum in Warwickshire, England holds the world's largest collection of historic British cars, with over 300 cars on display from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Heritage Trust.
History
The creation o ...
sponsored a project to research and note the history of the factory.
Rover Company: 1945–1967
Rover's main Coventry car factory had been extensively damaged during the Nazi bombing of Coventry. Rover had negotiated an option to use the Solihull plant if their own was not viable to use at the war's end and in 1945 the Rover Company officially relocated from Coventry to the Lode Lane plant. As in the tradition of Rover previous main factories dating back to the original Starley and Sutton Rover Bicycle plant from Victorian times, the Solihull plant was named The Meteor Works. Car production started again in 1946, with the first new car to be produced at the factory the Rover P4
The Rover P4 series is a group of mid-size luxury saloon cars produced by the Rover Company from 1949 until 1964. They were designed by Gordon Bashford.
Their P4 designation is factory terminology for this group of cars and was not in day-to ...
, from 1949. As well as producing many Rover cars there until the late 1970s, the plant was also the development site of the 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 ...
four-wheel drive vehicle in late 1947 and 1948. It is also the development site for Rover's other four wheel drive in the late 1960s, the Range Rover. The Land Rover instantly began out selling Rover cars from its beginning in 1948 and the Solihull plant has remained the home and birthplace of Land Rover ever since, being the principal assembly plant for both the classic Land Rover (both Series
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used in ...
and Defender) and the full-size Range Rover for their entire production runs.
North Works was added to the Solihull site beginning in late 1956 as two storage warehouses. North Works became a complete factory of its own for the introduction of the Rover P6
The Rover P6 series (named as the 2000, 2200, or 3500, depending on engine displacement) was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK.
The P6 was the first winner ...
car in October 1963. The Rover P6 was awarded the International Car of the Year for 1964.
British Leyland: 1968–1978
The Rover Company merged with Leyland Motors
Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was a British vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 and 1 ...
in 1967, which merged shortly afterwards with British Motor Holdings to create the British Leyland Motor Corporation
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...
a year later. Solihull continued to manufacture Rover cars, but the most significant new Rover product would be the Range Rover in 1970 - a model whose success would ultimately secure the plant's future in later decades. The factory was extended with Eastworks in 1975 for the new Rover SD1
The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produc ...
, a bold and futuristic design which would replace the older P6 models. However the plant was ravaged by the industrial strife that had crippled (and eventually bankrupted) the rest of BL, and the resulting quality problems meant the car never fulfilled its promise.
Land Rover: 1978–2012
The rationalisation of car production in the late 1970s by British Leyland had almost wiped out all their major British car brands. At Solihull all car production, except for Land Rover vehicles, ceased at Lode Lane. Land Rover and Range Rover as specialist lines of the old Rover Company had remained relatively unscathed from the British Leyland bankruptcy and were split as separate operating company based there. The Rover SD1 assembly hall and paint shop were mothballed, and production of that car was moved to the former Morris plant in Cowley, Oxfordshire. All future Rover car production would take place both here, and at the Austin assembly plant in Longbridge. Following the de-merger of Jaguar from BL in 1984, the Range Rover became BL's flagship product and a stable situation existed from thereon, with new models such as the Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
debuting in 1989, and the Freelander
The Land Rover Freelander is a compact luxury crossover SUV that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Europe as the ...
in 1998 - which finally made use of the old SD1 assembly hall. In 2000, the situation changed once again when BMW (by now the owners of the Rover Group - the successor to BL) decided to sell Land Rover (and the Solihull plant) to Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
.
In 2005, production of the Range Rover
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
and the Range Rover Sport
The Land Rover Range Rover Sport, generally known simply as the Range Rover Sport, is a mid-size luxury SUV produced under their Land Rover marque, from the British manufacturer Land Rover, and later Jaguar Land Rover. The first generation (co ...
at the Solihull plant was temporarily interrupted by protestors from the environmental organization Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
. The protesters infiltrated an assembly facility and temporarily delayed production of the vehicle. Greenpeace cited issues with greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
, and by extension, global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. The United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...
estimates for the non-supercharged car are (combined). Although for this test the EPA used their newly calibrated system for 2008 and on. Greenpeace stated they did not take issue with the production of vehicles such as the Land Rover Defender
The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They c ...
as they are typically used for off-road applications on a much more frequent basis than vehicles such as the Range Rover Sport which they claim "has been tuned primarily for on road performance".[
In March 2008, Ford finalised a deal to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors – part of the Indian-based Tata Group, one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles.
]
Jaguar Land Rover: 2013-present
Solihull has since benefited from massive investment in the run up to the launch of the fourth generation Range Rover in 2012 and second generation Range Rover Sport in 2013, following the installation of a new aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
bodyshell production facility. The plant has now been designated as a "centre for excellence" for aluminium body technology. Production of the Jaguar XE
The Jaguar XE (X760) is a rear or all-wheel drive, front-engine, four-door compact executive car manufactured and marketed by Jaguar Land Rover, under their Jaguar marque. The successor to the X-Type, it was designed by Ian Callum and launched a ...
, the first non-4x4 vehicle to be produced at the plant since 1981, began on 13 April 2015, and will be followed by production of the Jaguar F-Pace
The Jaguar F-Pace (X761) is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV car_manufacturer,_under_their_ made_by_Jaguar_Land_Rover,_a_British_automaker">car_manufacturer,_under_their_Jaguar_Cars">Jaguar_marque._It_is_the_first_model_to_be_built_by_Jaguar_ ...
during 2016. Sir Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...
, Jaguar test driver Norman Dewis
Norman Dewis (3 August 1920 – 8 June 2019) was a British car test driver, who was the test driver for Jaguar Cars from 1952 to 1985. His son Andrew Dewis is also a racing driver
Car development
Dewis participated in the development of the f ...
and motoring expert Quentin Willson
Quentin Willson (born 23 July 1957) is an English TV presenter, motoring journalist, author, TV producer and former car dealer, perhaps most widely known as a presenter of the motoring programmes ''Britain's Worst Driver'', ''Fifth Gear'', and ...
led a procession of classic Jaguar and Land Rover models to celebrate the beginning of Jaguar production at Solihull, with Stirling Moss formally opening the new production facility. Production of the Jaguar XE has since moved to Castle Bromwich in 2016 costing £100m.
Land Rover test track
A test track for demonstrating the Land Rover's off-road ability to visiting guests was opened in 1949. The original track started at the boiler house and ran over the numerous wartime air raid shelters. It is believed to be the first purpose-built off-road demonstration track for public use. The majority of the air raid shelter track had been built over with new factory buildings by 1956. To overcome the loss of demonstration area the Jungle Track was added for use for guests visiting the factory and was known as Joyce's Jungle after the demonstrator driver, Alec Joyce. These areas are currently run by the Solihull Factory Land Rover Experience centre.
Products
Current
*Land Rover Range Rover
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...
(1970–present)
*Land Rover Range Rover Sport
The Land Rover Range Rover Sport, generally known simply as the Range Rover Sport, is a mid-size luxury SUV produced under their Land Rover marque, from the British manufacturer Land Rover, and later Jaguar Land Rover. The first generation (co ...
(2005–present)
*Jaguar F-Pace
The Jaguar F-Pace (X761) is a mid-size luxury crossover SUV car_manufacturer,_under_their_ made_by_Jaguar_Land_Rover,_a_British_automaker">car_manufacturer,_under_their_Jaguar_Cars">Jaguar_marque._It_is_the_first_model_to_be_built_by_Jaguar_ ...
(2016–present)
* Land Rover Range Rover Velar (2017–present)
Historical
*Jaguar XE
The Jaguar XE (X760) is a rear or all-wheel drive, front-engine, four-door compact executive car manufactured and marketed by Jaguar Land Rover, under their Jaguar marque. The successor to the X-Type, it was designed by Ian Callum and launched a ...
(2015–2016)
*Land Rover Series
The Land Rover series I, II, and III (commonly referred to as ''series'' Land Rovers, to distinguish them from later models) are compact British off-road vehicles, produced by the Rover Company since 1948, and later by British Leyland. Though ...
(1948–1985)
*Land Rover Defender
The Land Rover Defender (initially introduced as the Land Rover 110 / One Ten, and in 1984 joined by the Land Rover 90 / Ninety, plus the new, extra-length Land Rover 127 in 1985) is a series of British off-road cars and pickup trucks. They c ...
(1983–2016)
*Land Rover Discovery
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...
(1989–2018)
**Honda Crossroad
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
(1993–1998)
*Land Rover Freelander
The Land Rover Freelander is a compact luxury crossover SUV that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Europe as the ...
(1997–2006)
*Rover P3
The Rover Sixty and Rover Seventy-Five or Rover P3 series were 1.6 and 2.0-litre executive cars announced in the middle of February 1948 and produced by the Rover Company until the summer of 1949. Two months after the announcement of the new car ...
(1948–1949)
*Rover P4
The Rover P4 series is a group of mid-size luxury saloon cars produced by the Rover Company from 1949 until 1964. They were designed by Gordon Bashford.
Their P4 designation is factory terminology for this group of cars and was not in day-to ...
(1949–1964)
* Rover P5 (1958–1973)
*Rover P6
The Rover P6 series (named as the 2000, 2200, or 3500, depending on engine displacement) was a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England, UK.
The P6 was the first winner ...
(1963–1977)
*Rover SD1
The Rover SD1 is both the code name and eventual production name given to a series of executive cars built by the Specialist Division (later the ''Jaguar-Rover-Triumph'' division) of British Leyland (BL), under the Rover marque. It was produc ...
(1976–1981)
*Triumph TR7
The Triumph TR7 is a sports car manufactured in the United Kingdom from September 1974 to October 1981 by British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), which changed its name to British Leyland (BL) in 1975. The car was launched in the United State ...
(1980–1981)
References
References
Notes
{{Automotive industry in the United Kingdom
Jaguar Land Rover
Buildings and structures in Solihull
Motor vehicle assembly plants in the United Kingdom
British shadow factories
Manufacturing plants in England