British car producer Jaguar Land Rover has signed an agreement to build a manufacturing plant in Nitra, western Slovakia. The car manufacturer will invest €1.5bn into the first phase of the plant, which is expected to employ 2,800 people by 2020. Production is scheduled to start in 2018, with the goal of producing 150,000 vehicles annually. The investment contract allows for doubling production to 300,000 vehicles. This would increase the investment volume by another €520m, creating an additional 1,000 jobs. The Slovak state has given Jaguar incentives in the form of grants totaling €130m, accounting for 9 percent of the project costs. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Turkey had also been vying to secure the Jaguar contract.
