New Jaguar Land Rover jobs in Wolverhampton factory expansion

Jaguar Land Rover is set to hire hundreds of new workers as the car manufacturer announces plans to double the size of its site near Wolverhampton.

It will invest £450m in its engine manufacturing centre, doubling its size to 200,000 sq m (2,152,782 sq ft).

The plant, on the i54 business site in south Staffordshire, employs 700 people, a number it expects to double.

A rise in global demand had led to the centre's expansion, the company said.

Updates on this story and others on Birmingham and Black Country

Mike Wright, executive director of Jaguar Land Rover, said the plant was "absolutely pivotal" to the company's plans for global expansion.

"As we grow our volumes around the world we need more capacity," he said.

"We've started the initial phase just 12 months ago, that's gone really well, and we're now planning for the next phase for the next two or three years."

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said the company's further investment was "further evidence that the British automotive sector can compete with the best in the world".

"More than 10,000 jobs have been created and about £3.5bn has been invested in its Midlands' manufacturing sites since 2010."

Jaguar Land Rover first announced plans to build the engine manufacturing centre at the i54 business park in 2011, spending £500m on the site by the time it had opened.

It supports three other manufacturing sites in the UK, based at Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the West Midlands and Halewood on Merseyside.

The firm currently makes about 400,000 engines every year, with one coming off the production line every 40 seconds.