Land Rover engines tied to Ford manufacturing

A mechanic reveals that some Land Rover engines were produced at Ford facilities, highlighting shared powertrain roots.

Land Rover engines tied to Ford manufacturing

Ford bought Land Rover in 2000, and the brands shared powertrain work for years. Some Land Rover engines were built at Ford facilities, including the Bridgend Engine Plant in Wales, which produced more than 22 million engines before it closed in 2020. After Bridgend shut, Jaguar Land Rover moved engine production in house to its Wolverhampton centre. The AJ-V8 family, designed by Jaguar, powered Range Rover models from 2009 to 2012, and it is part of the Ford era of shared engineering. The engine was built at Ford sites while its internals were tailored for Land Rover use, and many models used Ford automatic transmissions as well.

This is part of a broader trend in the auto world where premium brands share platforms to cut costs and speed up development. The upside is access to proven parts and potentially easier maintenance. The downside is a risk that buyers feel the brand has less uniqueness. The Bridgend plant’s closure and the return to in house production at Wolverhampton show control is shifting back to the maker. Yet the economics of shared engines—fewer suppliers, larger production runs, a wider service network—remain strong. Communicating these truths to buyers, so they understand what they are paying for, is the challenge ahead.

Highlights

The balance between prestige and practicality keeps evolving as automakers remix engineering across brands.