Coventry & Warwickshire is the centre for low-carbon powertrain in the UK. The sub-region hosts multiple R&D sites for Jaguar Land Rover, including the Whitley HQ, with new state-of-the-art powertrain development facilities. Together with Aston Martin, Geely, BMW and Dennis Eagle, the local auto cluster nurtures a strong and growing supply chain of powertrain design and engineering services companies.
The local universities host leading research into light weighting, battery storage and CAV: WMG at the University of Warwick is a UK Catapult Centre and has opened NAIC, the National Automotive Innovation Campus, a £150m centre for future vehicle technologies; and Coventry University, with its new Centre for Mobility and Transport works closely with Horiba MIRA and is developing its own hydrogen-based vehicle Microcab.
Recent investments locally have included Geely London Taxi’s £300m investment into a new manufacturing and engineering centre to build a new range of zero-emissions vehicles at Ansty; Lightning Hybrids MIRA facility, Detroit Electric’s new assembly site in Leamington Spa and BMW’s £750m UK investment, including at its Hams Hall powertrain facility, which supplies plants in the UK and overseas. BMW produces thousands of engines every year at Hams Hall, including the hybrid engine for the i8 supercar.
The National Advanced Propulsion Centre, at the University of Warwick is a leader in low-carbon technologies, and centre-piece of a UK government £1bn Advanced Propulsion Programme, which funds collaboration in low carbon propulsion technologies.
