Jaguar Land Rover today announced plans for further investment in technology and innovation in the UK.

It will increase the investment in its new engine manufacturing centre to more than £500 million.

This will almost double the number of highly skilled engineering and manufacturing jobs at the plant, taking the total number of people who will be employed at the site to almost 1,400.

In addition, Jaguar Land Rover will invest £2.75 billion in product creation during the year to support its ambitious growth plans that will see the business introduce eight new or refreshed products during the year.

The new engine manufacturing centre will be the home for a new generation of lightweight four-cylinder low emission diesel and petrol engines.

The new family of engines is currently under development at Jaguar Land Rover's research and development facility.

The new engine manufacturing centre will open later this year with the first engines coming off the production line in 2015.

Eight new or refreshed products planned for 2013

Jaguar Land Rover will invest £2.75bn in product development which will support the launch of eight new innovative products to help achieve its business growth strategy. These include the Jaguar F-Type and the introduction of the world's first nine-speed gearbox in its Land Rover product line-up.

Jaguar Land Rover is the UK's largest investor in automotive research and development.  Exporting 80% of its vehicles, Jaguar Land Rover's success has been worth about £25bn in export revenues for the UK economy in the last two years.