A huge fire broke out at Jaguar Land Rover’s £500million manufacturing plant this morning with 50 firefighters heading to the scene as smoke filled the air.
The blaze broke out at the luxury car firm’s Castle Bromwich base in the Castle Vale area of Birmingham at about 8.15am and took over an hour to extinguish.
Witnesses described how black smoke could be seen miles away from the plant amid the huge flames – and the area smelt like burning rubber or plastic.
West Midlands Fire Service sent eight fire engines, three 4×4 brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial platform to the scene off Chester Road.
A witness told BirminghamLive: ‘There were huge flames and a lot of black smoke. The whole area smelt like as if plastic or rubber when it burns. There were lots of fire services sirens.’
And a passing driver told CoventryLive: ‘There was a load of smoke coming from the building, going right up into the sky. I noticed it from miles away and then as I got closer realised it was the JLR building.’
A West Midlands Fire Service spokesman said: ‘Shortly before 8.15am on Tuesday, we responded to Chester Road in the Castle Vale area of Birmingham.
‘Eight fire engines, three 4×4 brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial platform are in attendance, crewed by around 50 firefighters.
‘The attending crews are from Ward End, Sheldon, Aston, Perry Barr, Hay Mills, Highgate, Handsworth, Smethwick, and Solihull stations.
‘This is a fire at a vehicle manufacturing plant. Crews wearing breathing apparatus are tackling the fire.’
In an update at 9.45am, the fire service added: ‘The fire has been extinguished and was confirmed to be out shortly after 9.30am.
‘Sprinklers have been deactivated. Firefighters will remain at the scene to extinguish hotspots whilst ventilation takes place.’
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: ‘We currently have a paramedic officer standing by supporting fire colleagues at a building fire on Chester Road, Castle Vale. There are no patients.’
And a Jaguar Land Rover spokesman said: ‘West Midlands Fire Service attended a fire in a block at our Castle Bromwich site this morning.
‘The incident was resolved quickly with no reported injuries. Fire teams remain at the scene to support investigations.’
West Midlands Police directed MailOnline’s enquiries to the fire service.
The site began life as an airfield in 1909 and was used by the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and became an aircraft factory just before the Second World War.
More than 12,000 Spitfire planes were built there as well as Lancaster bombers, then the site was taken over by car body pressings company Fisher & Ludlow after the war.
This eventually became part of British Leyland before Jaguar took on the site in 1977 – and mass production of cars was carried out there until last summer, with the site most recently the manufacturing site for XE and XF saloons and the F-Type sports car.
In June 2024, all vehicle assembly lines were shutdown as part of Jaguar’s transition to becoming an all-electric premium car maker in 2026, which includes a 12-month ‘sunset period’ in which it will not build or sell any new models.
The plant now operates as a paint shop for Jaguar Land Rover’s special vehicle operations (SVO), its sideline in producing limited edition, high-performance cars.
This comes after the company invested £41million to make it the new home of SVO paint operations.
It will also be used for bodywork panel pressing for its new line-up of £100,000-plus luxury EVs, which are to be assembled at the nearby Solihull factory.
No electric cars are currently in production at the factory.
A JLR spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘From 2024 to 2028 inclusive, we are investing £18billion across all our brands to transition to our electric future, including investing in our people and bringing in new skills such as software and data engineering, reskilling people in our plants for BEV [battery electric vehicle] technology.
‘The Castle Bromwich facility in the UK will continue to play a key role, providing panel pressing for next generation electric models, SV paint facilities and product refurbishment.’
They added: ‘New Jaguar will have a strong British footprint. Manufactured in Solihull, with pressed panels from Castle Bromwich.’
The car giant last week downgraded its profit predictions for the year as it warned over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and heightened global uncertainty.
The firm, which is owned by India’s Tata, cut its cashflow expectations and said it expects margins on underlying profits of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent this financial year.
It had previously pointed towards 10 per cent for the year, while it posted an underlying profit margin of 8.5 per cent for the year to March.
The firm is the UK’s largest employer in the automotive sector, with facilities in the UK building its Range Rover SUV models. It manufactures its Defender models in Slovakia.
The company halted all shipments to the US in April after President Trump’s administration imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on car imports.
It restarted shipments last month after the UK reached an agreement to export 100,000 cars a year to the US at a reduced 10 per cent tariff.
