(October 18, 2010) Jaguar Land Rover said Friday it no longer plans to close one of its three auto plants in England after reaching an agreement with trade unions.

JLR, which Ford Motor Co. sold to India's Tata Motors in 2008, said it would be significantly increasing the number of models in its range and creating thousands of jobs over the next decade.

Last year, Tata said it would merge two JLR plants in England as part of a business plan to tackle the impact of the economic downturn on demand for vehicles, which had seen its manufacturing running at less than 60 percent of capacity.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth said on Friday the company is now seeing a "great turnaround" in its business.

The carmaker will keep a Jaguar plant at Castle Bromwich and a Land Rover factory in nearby Solihull, both in central England, as well as its Halewood facility near Liverpool in northwest England.

Source: Automotive News