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The Whitley plant, situated in Whitley, Coventry in the West Midlands of England, is the engineering centre and headquarters of Jaguar Cars. The facility has a fully integrated design, research and development centre for all current and future Jaguar products.
History
The site now occupied by the Whitley plant was originally an airfield, built during the First World War.
In the early 1920s the site and its associated buildings were bought by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Co. Ltd. From 1923 until the end of the Second World War a series planes, including the Armstrong Whitworth Siskin and the Hawker Hart biplanes and the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bomber were built at the site.
After the Second World War, Armstrong Whitworth concentrated its guided missile work at the plant, including the development of the Sea Slug surface-to-air missile. In 1968 Hawker Siddeley, who had by then absorbed the Armstrong Whitworth company, closed the site.
The Rootes Group, by then owned by Chrysler Europe, acquired the site and established its design centre there in 1969.
In 1985 the newly privatised Jaguar Cars bought the plant and established its engineering centre there.
In 2005 Jaguar Cars moved its headquarters to join its engineering centre at the Whitley site, after scaling down its operations at its Browns Lane plant.
Environment
The Whitley plant is surrounded by green land, and a lake, woods and the River Sowe are near by. These would be under threat if the plant was expanded. Some of the former playing fields of Whitley Abbey Comprehensive School were sold by the council to Ford who owned Jaguar at the time.
The associated expansion of the Whitley facility and the building of a new industrial park in the surrounding green fields and woods is a controversial local issue.
Coordinates: 52°22′59″N 1°29′27″W / 52.3830°N 1.4909°W
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