JLR and General Motors eye £900m contract to build new range of military trucks | Automotive industry
Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors plan to expand into British defense via a £900 million military contract, as carmakers seek to exploit the spending boom in NATO countries rushing to rearm.
The manufacturers are part of a group of car companies vying to make thousands of 4x4s for the armed forces to replace an aging fleet of Land Rovers. which have no longer been produced since 2016.
The new trucks will be used by the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for reconnaissance and patrol missions as well as in logistics, with the first deliveries expected in 2030.
JLR would be the highest-profile British carmaker to turn its attention to the booming defense sector as manufacturers grapple with a transition to electric vehicles and growing competition from Chinese rivals.
In Germany, Volkswagen is in talks to shift production at one of its car plants to heavy trucks equipped with anti-missile systems for the maker of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. Renault recently announced that it was repurposing part of its Le Mans chassis plant to manufacture drones for the French government.
Last year, Keir Starmer pledged to spend 5% of GDP on defense by 2035, amid rising military spending within NATO that has made government contracts an increasingly attractive alternative for carmakers facing falling profits.
Defense spending in Europe, including Britain, rose 14% last year to $864 billion (£638 billion), the biggest annual increase since the end of the Cold War, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Mark Cameron, JLR’s managing director responsible for its Defender model, said the company would “return to providing UK-designed and manufactured lightweight logistics vehicles for the transport of people and equipment for the defense and blue light sectors”.
He added: “We will explore potential partnerships, particularly with organizations such as the Ministry of Defence. »
JLR has not produced military vehicles since the classic Land Rover Defender range closed its Solihull factory a decade ago. The new Defender model is built at a factory in Slovakia.
General Motors, the American car maker, is bidding in partnership with BAE Systems, the British defense company, and NP Aerospace, the Coventry-based manufacturer that maintains the existing Land Rover fleet.
Gilbert Nelson, vice president of sales and marketing for GM’s defense division, likened the initiative to “the mobilization of industry to support the defense effort” during World War II, when the company made trucks for the British and American armies.
“There is an opportunity to reestablish and reinvigorate that relationship,” he said. Referring to growing defense budgets in the UK and Europe, he added: “We want to be competitive wherever we can be competitive. »
GM does not have a factory in the UK and its offer would involve Chevrolet-based trucks produced in the US being shipped to Britain for military modifications. Nelson said the GM consortium was making “a concerted effort to maximize British content” in its bid.
The Defense Ministry contract covers an initial tranche of around 3,000 vehicles ranging from patrol and logistics trucks to armored reconnaissance models, but others are expected to eventually replace the 7,800 Austrian-made Land Rovers and Pinzgauer trucks currently in use in the army.
Companies have not yet been informed of the number of vehicles they will have to provide. An industry source said the delay was linked to the late publication of the Defense Investment Plan, Britain’s blueprint for military spending for the next five years, which was originally due to be published last fall but is still being finalized.
Ineos, which manufactures the Grenadier 4×4 for the civilian market, also hopes to win the contract in partnership with defense company SMT.
Mike Whittington, commercial director of Ineos’ automotive business, said the company wanted to “expand the availability of the Grenadier to as many governments as possible”, highlighting its existing use by counter-terrorism police in Germany and France.
Other bidders include defense manufacturer Babcock, which uses a modified Toyota model; the German military company Rheinmetall with a Mercedes 4×4; and defense company General Dynamics with a Ford pickup.
A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring UK industry plays a central role in delivering the next generation of light mobility vehicles which should be in the hands of soldiers by 2030.”
