Tata to build £4bn UK battery factory to supply Jaguar Land Rover

Receive free Tata Group updates

We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Tata Group news every morning.

Tata Group has announced plans to build a £4bn flagship battery factory in the UK to supply Jaguar Land Rover, in a major boost to a domestic car industry racing to adapt to the era of electric vehicles.

The Indian conglomerate, which owns JLR, confirmed on Wednesday that it had chosen a UK site for the factory, which will start supplying JLR and Tata Motors from 2026.

The UK had been vying with a potential location in Spain. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held secret talks in May with Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of parent company Tata Sons, in an effort to secure the factory.

Chandrasekaran said in a statement on Wednesday: “Our multi-billion-pound investment will bring state-of-the-art technology to the country, helping to power the automotive sector’s transition to electric mobility, anchored by our own business, JLR.”

The plant is expected to be built in Somerset in South West England in what would be a significant win for the region’s economy.

The Financial Times reported that Tata has asked for £500mn of state assistance, including subsidies for the factory’s high-energy use, a one-off grant from the government’s £1bn automotive transformation fund and road improvements to the site near the M5 motorway.

Sunak hailed the investment, saying: “It will not only create thousands of skilled jobs for Britons around the country, but it will also strengthen our lead in the global transition to electric vehicles, helping to grow our economy in clean industries of the future.”