JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) Australia has coincided its inaugural Invinctus Games in Sydney with the opening of its new $6 million headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Mascot.

The new headquarters in O’Riordan Street, officially opened by JLR CEO Ralf Speth, replaces its previous location in North Ryde, which it shared with Volvo when the brands were part of the Premier Automotive Group owned by the Ford Motor Company.

JLR Australia managing director Mark Cameron said increasing sales, expanded product ranges and new- technology vehicles, such as the incoming I-Pace EV, ushered in a new era for the company in Australia. The I-Pace yesterday won Car of the Year for Germany.

“We now have a head office and training facilities that align with our newest retail facilities and give our employees an inspiring work environment,” he said.

The new building is in the revitalised Mascot precinct, close to Sydney’s domestic and international airports.

It covers 3200 square metres over three floors and features five large training rooms, a fully-equipped technical training academy, 14 meeting rooms and a gymnasium.

There is also a new-car display area for the latest Jaguar and Land Rover products, including the I-Pace that goes on sale later this year. The building has 13 charging stations for the EV.

The building is used by 100 staff and houses 150 individual workstations, giving employees a more collaborative, open workspace.

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JLR Australia said the centre opens up a broad range of training and development opportunities for its staff and representatives from the 46 national dealerships.

The company has already scheduled 70 customer experience training programs and 70 technical training sessions involving 1450 delegates in the current financial year.

Those numbers will rise to 2820 delegates attending 182 customer experience programs and 138 technical training courses in the new facility during the 2019-20 financial year.

The new headquarters will also host an estimated 800 attendees for two new-model launches scheduled for 2019.

JLR proposes to spend $A8 billion this financial year on new products and capital expenditure. One direction for the funding will go to electrified vehicles.

It said that from 2020, all new JLR vehicles will be electrified. The model range will cover full-electric, plug-in hybrid and mild-hybrid vehicles as well as continuing petrol and diesel engines.

By Neil Dowling