Jaguar Cars, the luxury UK automaker, is developing a new car, the X350. For the first time, the company is to use aluminium body panels for the body shell. Aluminium can be difficult to weld so self‐piercing rivets are used for metal joining. The rivets are used in place of spot welding, but...

A new manufacturing plant has been installed in Solihull, UK, to manufacture the new Range Rover sports utility vehicle. An important aspect of the £80 million investment at the site is a body‐in‐white assembly shop containing 123 robots, many of which are employed in multi‐tasking roles.

Certain models of the new Vauxhall Vectra passenger car are being manufactured at Ellesmere Port where there is a completely new bodyshop with an installed population of some 660 Fanuc robots.

Two models of the Vauxhall Vectra passenger car are now manufactured at Ellesmere Port, UK where there is a completely new bodyshop with over 600 Fanuc robots. John Mortimer reports.

Jaguar Cars has invested millions of dollars in two new facilities – a press shop and a body‐in‐white shop – to produce aluminium bodies for the next generation XJ luxury passenger car.

The France‐based vehicle maker, PSA Group, is preparing for the next round of new model introductions. So it is making an in‐depth assessment of which robots to purchase. Meanwhile, the company's plant in Britain is gearing up for its own compliment of new robots.

The automotive industry has been the principal driver in the development of robotics; however, as car design becomes more sophisticated, demands on robot makers will continue undiminished.

With the trend towards lightweight body structures for automobiles, new joining technologies are evolving. This paper highlights the latest application – that of adhesive bonding major components for the Aston Martin DB9 sports car.

Purpose – Describes how Jaguar Cars is evaluating a technology roadmap to assess future manufacturing processes. Design/methodology/approach – Describes the major production line technologies that are under close scrutiny for the next ten years for use in the Jaguar Cars' production plants...

Purpose – Describes how BMW is investing in new body‐in‐white capital equipment to make a new version of the Mini due out in 2007. Design/methodology/approach – Describes the major production line technologies that are under close scrutiny to manufacture the body shell of the next...