X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Whitley plant


Jaguar X-Type

In 2008, Jaguar director of design Ian Callum said that, despite management denials at the time, the slow-selling X-Type “was essentially designed in Detroit and presented as close to a fait accompli to reluctant designers and engineers at Jaguar's Whitley design centre.

Talbot Samba

As with previous Talbot and Chrysler Europe models, styling of the T15 was the responsibility of the British design centre in Whitley, Coventry.

Whitley plant

The Rootes Group, by then owned by Chrysler Europe, purchased the 187 acre site from Hawker Siddeley Dynamics in 1969 for the purpose of centralising all its design and engineering teams onto one site.


Land Rover

Land Rovers are currently assembled in the company's Halewood and Solihull plants, with research and development taking place at JLR's Gaydon and Whitley engineering centres.


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