JLR officially opens £500m 'Creation Centre'

State-of-the-art site has the world's most advanced design studio and houses all development employees - but will it bring back success?

By Sam Sheehan / Thursday, 26 September 2019 / Loading comments

Jaguar Land Rover is ready to turn its recent sales fortunes on their head and push forward into a new era with the opening of its all-new 'Creation Centre'. The enormous site at its Gaydon HQ, which cost almost £500 million to build and spans four million square metres, is now home to everyone working on the development of new Jaguars and Land Rovers, from pencil-wielding designers to prototyping engineers. PH was invited to the site's opening and, well, it certainly points to a bold new future - one that looks capable of saving this unfairly hit car maker from further pain.

We say unfairly because JLR has arguably suffered more than most thanks to the demise of diesel encouraged by the mistakes of other manufacturers. JLR's in-house developed powertrains have consistently met emissions standards, yet a widespread downturn in derv sales hit it hardest because, well, diesel was essentially its speciality. China's recent economic slowdown accelerated the struggles several times over, so the company will hope that today, when the doors to its new Creation Centre were officially opened (though they've been unofficially open for a few months now), marks the beginning of it getting its buzz back.

The last time JLR had such cause for optimism was in 2008, the year Tata bought the midlands company from Ford, injecting much-needed hope into what is now a 13,000-strong workforce.

Tata's investment paid off, with lots of ground-breaking success stories in the early part of the decade - don't forget that Land Rover effectively established a new segment with the Evoque and then pushed on with a string of fast-selling products. Jaguar didn't get off to quite the same start, but eventually it came good, with the XF, F-Pace and now I-Pace the first fruit of its long-term plan to return to grace. The turbulent economic climate of the past couple of years hit JLR badly so now, with the new Creation Centre acting as the bricks and mortar (well, glass and softwood) illustration of another reset, it's turning a page.

While those aforementioned new cars are seen as success stories, things will be done differently from here on, with a continued push for electrification (an I-Pace SVR is on the cards) accompanied by an evening out of success between the company's two brands. To help with the latter, JLR's allocated the Creation Centre's state-of-the-art design section, named the Heart Space, to Jaguar. It's said to be the most advanced design studio in the world, and the high ceilings and robotic clay moulding machines certainly back that statement; not to mention the grandness of the entire site, the immense amount of natural light it lets in and the 100 per cent renewable energy that powers it all. This is a JLR looking far beyond 2020 with more than just pie in the sky quotes in a PowerPoint presentation.

To that end the opening ceremony also served as a reaffirmation of Tata's involvement. At a time when rumours of a BMW takeover have begun to fade, a recent Ratan Tata visit to Gaydon seems to suggest that the Indian company is not stepping away just yet. Indeed, JLR CEO Ralf Speth gave several thanks for Tata's ongoing commitment during today's ceremony and product engineering director Nick Rogers echoed the sentiments during his speech - adding that Tata's commitment to the brand would see it launch more class-leading products in the manner of the Evoque, I-Pace and Defender.

Nobody foresaw diesel's demise coming so quickly, so to protect itself against further unforeseen market changes Jaguar Land Rover is continuing to invest in all propulsion sources - and is soon to adopt BMW power as well. If there's one thing to take from today's event, then, it's that JLR is hard at work to get all the pieces aligned for an imminent return to success. All that's left is for the work going on behind the shiny walls of its impressive new Creation Centre to bear some fruit; who knows, maybe next time we visit we'll be acknowledging the brand's successful turnaround. Again.