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Jaguar Land Rover is set to open its fifth manufacturing site outside of the UK in the city of Nitra in Western Slovakia, after signing a letter of intent with the Slovakian government.
The move comes after the firm considered a number of locations in Europe, the US and Mexico and will be confirmed after the completion of a feasibility study later this year.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans for the Nitra factory to be able to produce up to 300,000 vehicles a year, with production to start in 2018. This is almost double the annual capacity of JLR's largest plant in the UK at Solihull in the West Midlands, which as reported in 2014, has an annual capacity of 168,000 vehicles across three shifts.
The Nitra plant will also be equipped to make aluminium vehicles, as JLR continues it move to producing lighter weight vehicles.
Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), said: "The expansion of our business globally is essential to support its long-term, resilient growth. As well as creating additional capacity, it allows us to invest in the development of more new vehicles and technologies, which supports jobs in the UK.
"With its established premium automotive industry, Slovakia is an attractive potential development opportunity for us. The new factory will complement our existing facilities in the UK, China, India and the one under construction in Brazil."
Volkswagen, Kia and PSA Peugeot Citreon all have manufacturing sites in Slovakia. Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia said: "We are committed to developing Slovakia's premium automotive industry and, should we be successful, this investment would represent a significant step forward in achieving this. It would provide a boost to our country's wider industrial strategy as well as benefitting the European Union as a whole.”
The JLR factory in Slovakia is the latest in a series of expansions outside of the UK. A plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is expected to open early next year and will produce the Discovery Sport.
Last month JLR announced a partnership with Magna Steyr, which will see the contract manufacturer produce future JLR vehicles at its factory in Graz, Austria.
The company also has a factory in China it operates via a joint venture with Chery, which has produced the Evoque and the Discovery Sport since 2014. Tata Motors has also assembled the Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar XF and XJ in India since 2011, through an agreement with its mutual Indian-owned parent company, Tata.
JLR said that more than 80% of its revenues are from exports, that it plans to spend £3.5 billion on new vehicle creation and launch 12 new vehicles from its UK plants over the next financial year, such as the Jaguar F-PACE.
JLR has three vehicle manufacturing sites and an engine manufacturing site in the UK: Castle Bromwich, which employs 3,500 people and is where the Jaguar XF, Jaguar XJ and Jaguar F-TYPE, are made; Halewood, which employs 4,500 people and is where the Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport, are made, and Solihull, which employs 9,000 people and makes the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Land Rover Discovery, Land Rover Defender and the Jaguar XE.
The Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, which was opened last year, is making the 'Ingenium' engine family, starting with the 2.0 litre diesel in the Jaguar XE.