Times are good at Jaguar->ke39 Land Rover->ke46; so good in fact, that the company has announced a partnership with manufacturing and engineering specialist Magna Steyer->ke4224 to outsource production of future vehicles at its factory in Graz, Austria. JLR has successfully doubled sales in the last five years, to over 462,000 units, and its three factories in England are approaching capacity. New factories in Brazil and China->ke2090 will be coming online soon as well, but JLR is projecting the need for even more production capacity.

"The U.K. remains at the center of our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities. Partnerships such as this will complement our U.K. operations and engineering," says JLR CEO Dr. Ralf Speth. "Today marks another step towards building our global footprint. This agreement will allow us to expand our award-winning model range as customers around the world demand ever-more innovative vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover."

JLR hasn’t announced which model(s) would be built in Austria, but if the agreement is similar to the ones Magna Steyer has with other companies, it likely means one or two models will be exclusively outsourced. For instance, every Mini Countryman,->ke3615 Mini Paceman->ke4449 and Peugeot RCZ->ke3470 on the road was constructed at Magna Steyer’s facility. Additionally, the company has built every Mercedes-Benz G-Class->ke1712 since its introduction in 1979. In short, it’s a fairly common practice within the industry.

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Why it matters

It’s most likely that Magna Steyer will be building a yet to be announced Jaguar or Land Rover. All current models are built at JLR’s three factories in England, including the 2017 Jaguar XE, which is already rolling off the assembly line at the Solihull factory. Solihull will also be tooling for F-Pace->ke5038 production. That leaves the upcoming Land Rover Defender->ke1858 replacement as the most-likely candidate.

Though you may not have heard of the company, Magna Steyer has been around forever. It’s roots reach all the back to 1864 and the Josef und Franz Werndl & Comp Arms Factory and Sawmill. Several start-ups, mergers and acquisitions later, which involved German industrialist Gottlieb Daimler and the Johann Puch bicycle company, among others, Magna Steyer has since become one of the largest outsourced vehicle constructors in the world.

2016 Jaguar F-Pace

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