Jaguar Land Rover reveals latest global upskilling program

In its bid to support the company’s transition to electrification, Jaguar Land Rover has announced its latest upskilling thrust for its manpower.

In a statement, the United Kingdom-headquartered marque said that its newest initiative — called Future Skills Program — is aimed at training approximately 29,000 individuals in the next three years.

“The company’s Future Skills Program will see more than 10,000 Jaguar Land Rover and franchised retailer employees in the UK, and nearly 19,000 across the rest of the world trained in skills vital to electrification, digital and autonomous cars. This underlines the company’s commitment to developing its future engineering and manufacturing skills and supports the delivery of Jaguar Land Rover’s net zero targets,” the company said.

Jaguar Land Rover Industrial Operations Executive Director Barbara Bergmeier said that the firm is ramping up its training program to ensure that they have the right talent to deliver “the world’s most desirable modern luxury electric vehicles.”

“Developing the skilled global workforces needed to design, build, and maintain the vehicles of the future is foundational. I’m proud to say we are committing to help plug the electric and digital skills gap with a comprehensive, global training program, which will power charge electrification both here in the UK and abroad,” she explained.

Jaguar Land Rover said that the Future Skills Program is part of its “Reimagine” strategy that is meant to make all its modern luxury vehicles available in pure electric form by the end of the decade.

Around 80 percent of nearly 1,300 franchised Jaguar Land Rover retailers around the world offer electric vehicle servicing. To tackle the skill disparities, the automaker will provide electrification training this year to the majority of its technicians.

Further, Jaguar Land Rover is also keen on retraining thousands of automotive engineers and production employees to specialize in electrification, digital and autonomous cars.

As the production of electric cars at Jaguar Land Rover plants ramps up, plant employees at all levels will require training to ensure they can work safely alongside the high voltage systems in electric vehicles.

Jaguar Land Rover Lead Cell Engineer Karl Gunnarsson, who joined the Battery Cell Team in January after being a part of the Emissions After Treatment team in his first role, said that transition from working on internal combustion to electric was “fairly straightforward.”

“Both require a good understanding of material chemistry, and I was able to dedicate around 30 percent of my time to independent learning. Now, working on electric vehicles, I can see the longevity of the program and how it supports the company’s Reimagine strategy,” Gunnarsson was quoted as saying.

Relatedly, Jaguar Land Rover is also boosting its global apprenticeship program by adding hundreds of apprentices to the company and retailers around the world.

Photos from Jaguar Land Rover

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