Jaguar Land Rover awards UK companies $3.3B to build Evoque

The Evoque, due to arrive on dealership forecourts this year, is the smallest and most fuel-efficient Range Rover.

LONDON (Reuters) - Jaguar Land Rover has awarded more than 2 billion pounds ($3.3 billion) worth of supply contracts for its new Evoque model to British companies.

The 40-plus companies will supply components for the new compact Range Rover coupe and five-door vehicles after winning a global tendering exercise, the company said.

"(It) shows that the UK automotive supply chain is capable of winning major contracts and creating vital jobs in the UK," the U.K.'s business secretary Vince Cable said after a tour of JLR's Halewood facility in Merseyside.

It represents half the value of global components contracts handed out by JLR on Wednesday.

The Evoque, due to arrive on dealership forecourts this year, is the smallest and most fuel-efficient Range Rover, the company's website said, and is the first of a number of new products planned during the next five years.

"This will mean a high level of investment by us in the future and represents a tremendous opportunity for UK suppliers to work in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover to really strengthen the supplier base in this country," Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth said in a statement.

The companies include International Automotive Components, Johnson Controls and Magna International on Merseyside; McKecknie and Kostal in Yorkshire; and Sertec, Walsall Pressings and Kautex Unipart in the West Midlands.

The Jaguar and Land Rover unit was bought by India's Tata Motors from Ford Motor Co. in 2008 for $2.3 billion.

It was initially loss-making, but it made a turnaround in the last few quarters and posted a profit for the three months ended December