24 June 2025, 11:40 | Updated: 24 June 2025, 11:56
Picture:
Coventry Live/BPM Media
A huge blaze has ripped through the £500 million Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant on Tuesday morning as thick smoke fills the air.
The fire broke out at the luxury car firm’s Castle Bromwich base in the Castle Vale area of Birmingham on Tuesday morning.
Black smoke could be seen miles away with huge flames as burning rubber and plastic filled the air.
After 50 firefighters and eight fire engines rushed to the scene the blaze took over an hour to extinguish.
A passing driver told CoventryLive: “There was a load of smoke coming from the building, going right up into the sky.
“I noticed it from miles away and then as I got closer realised it was the JLR building.”
Picture:
Coventry Live/BPM Media
A West Midlands Fire Service spokesman said: “Shortly before 8.15am on Tuesday, we responded to Chester Road in the Castle Vale area of Birmingham.
“Eight fire engines, three 4×4 brigade response vehicles and a hydraulic aerial platform are in attendance, crewed by around 50 firefighters.
“The attending crews are from Ward End, Sheldon, Aston, Perry Barr, Hay Mills, Highgate, Handsworth, Smethwick, and Solihull stations.
“This is a fire at a vehicle manufacturing plant. Crews wearing breathing apparatus are tackling the fire.”
In an update at 9.45am, the fire service said: “The fire has been extinguished and was confirmed to be out shortly after 9.30am.
“Sprinklers have been deactivated. Firefighters will remain at the scene to extinguish hotspots whilst ventilation takes place.”
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We currently have a paramedic officer standing by supporting fire colleagues at a building fire on Chester Road, Castle Vale. There are no patients.”
Picture:
Alamy
Picture:
Getty
The Castle Bromwich site was first used as an airfield in 1909 by the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War.
After converting to an aircraft factory just before the Second World War, more than 12,000 Spitfire planes were built there as well as Lancaster bombers.
The site was later taken over by car body pressings company Fisher & Ludlow after the war.
Jaguar took on the site in 1977 with cars built there until the end of last year.
The plant now operates as a paint shop for Jaguar’s special vehicle operations (SVO), which the company invested £41 million in.
In March, Jaguar Land Rover revealed it has invested more than £450million in the site with to turn it into a world-leading hub for aluminium cars.
The high-performance car firm recently downgraded its profit predictions for the year as it warned over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and global uncertainty amid the conflict in the Middle East.
The company, owned by India’s Tata, slashed its cashflow expectations and said it expects margins on underlying profits of between 5 per cent and 7 per cent this financial year.
It had previously pointed towards 10 per cent for 2025, while the firm posted an underlying profit margin of 8.5 per cent for the year to March.
