Auto parts giant Magna International Inc. plans to build a new aluminum diecasting plant in Telford, England, to supply automotive parts to Jaguar Land Rover, the largest automaker based in the U.K.
The new plant will be built adjacent to a Stadco Automotive Ltd. auto body and chassis stamping plant. Magna acquired Stadco late last year.
Magna International Inc. is an Ontario-based corporation that designs and manufactures a range of automotive parts and systems (body and chassis systems, seating, and powertrain systems), with dozens of plants in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Construction of the new casting operation in Telford will begin in the third quarter of this year, and production would begin in 2018. Operating as a unit of Magna’s Cosma International business, the 225,000-sq.ft. plant will employ as many as 295.
The value of the capital investment is not clear, but Magna indicated it will receive financial support from the U.K.’s Regional Growth Fund.
Magna also withheld specific details about the production program, but it described the operation as featuring a high-pressure vacuum diecasting process to produce aluminum parts. “By using these types of castings, Magna helps automakers deliver maximum strength and stiffness and minimum weight, ultimately achieving better fuel economy, safety and handling,” according to the announcement. When Cosma developed
The Telford site is about 12 miles from the Jaguar Land Rover Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, opened in 2014 and already being doubled in size to over 2.1 million sq.ft. The total investment at the engine plant will be £1 billion ($1.47 million), according to published reports. JLR manufactures its 2.0-liitre Ingenium diesel engine at Wolverhampton at a rate of about 400,000 per year, and will begin producing the Ingenium gas engine there later this year.
"We are excited to work closely with Jaguar Land Rover in the development of this project, which will bring the most advanced structural casting technologies to the U.K.," according to John Farrell, president of Cosma International. "As lightweighting continues to be a key technology driver, we are uniquely positioned to help automakers achieve optimal weight savings throughout the vehicle architecture."