Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans to invest over £4 billion in building a flagship electric car battery ‘gigafactory’ in Somerset, England.

The carmaker’s new factory will reportedly create up to 4,000 new jobs in the region.

According to the Financial Times (FT), the deal was under discussion some time ago, but was put on ice during the upheaval between former prime minister Boris Johnson and Liz Truss’s fleeting tenure.

Current prime minister Rishi Sunak reportedly held secret talks in May with Tata Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Jaguar Land Rover’s parent company Tata Motors, in a bid to get the deal back on track and sway the carmaker into choosing the UK for the project.

“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,” said Chandrasekaran.

Sources told the FT that the UK had ultimately been chosen over a rival location that was being considered in Spain.

“Tata Group’s multi-billion-pound investment in a new battery factory in the UK is testament to the strength of our car manufacturing industry and its skilled workers,” said Rishi Sunak. “We can be incredibly proud that Britain has been chosen as home to Tata Group’s first gigafactory outside India, securing our place as one of the most attractive places to build electric vehicles.”

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