JLR Doubles Bespoke Range Rover Paint Processes With $80 Million InvestmentJLR Doubles Bespoke Range Rover Paint Processes With $80 Million Investment

Jaguar Land Rover is investing £65 million ($80.1 million) into doubling its bespoke vehicle painting abilities as consumer demand for luxury high-end customization grows.

The automaker’s Range Rover brand is attempting to join the ranks of top-flight brands like Bentley and Rolls-Royce is providing personalized services for a growing number of its customers.

In a company statement, the brand also says it will be able to achieve its goals while also reducing the environmental impact of its most carbon-intensive manufacturing processes. 

Its investment will allow customers to choose from hundreds of paints, finishes and colors across its Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models, more than double the number it was able to offer two years ago.

Owing to the complex and energy-intensive heating and curing processes necessary to achieve the highest quality and durability standards, paint shops are the largest contributor to automotive manufacturing emissions, accounting for 80% of operational emissions globally.

As part of a £41 million ($50.5 million) investment in new special vehicle operations (SVO) facilities at Castle Bromwich in the U.K., £26 million ($32 million) will be injected to replace existing paint booths at the site with all-new efficient state‑of‑the‑art application booths during 2025. These employ technology and filtration techniques to cut energy and water use and will also use fully automated spray robots which reduce paint waste by 30% versus painting by hand.

JLR says expansion of the facility will provide increased capacity to support growing demand from customers for a service that typically adds an average of £70,000 ($86,299) on top of the £202,000 ($249,036) average selling price of a Range Rover SV.

At the same time, the company is to begin construction of a £10 million ($12.32 million) universal paint line at Nitra in Slovakia, where Defender and Discovery are manufactured, which will see the addition of a fully electric paint booth and electric curing ovens.

The ovens are expected to cut about 500 tons of CO2 annually and its control system automatically shuts itself down when it detects inactivity.

A new heat exchanger is also being installed to recover heat from the paint shop flue gas and transfer it into the heating and cooling water production, improving system efficiency and saving about 2,250 tons of CO2 a year while slashing some £750,000 ($924,639) off JLR’s operating bill. 

Andrea Debbane, chief sustainability officer, says: “JLR is seeing a significant increase in clients wanting to personalize their vehicles, so we are preparing to expand our facilities and offer thousands more paint options across our brands, but doing so in the most sustainable and efficient way possible.”