Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors are considering an expansion into UK defence via a £900m military contract, as carmakers seek to exploit a spending boom by Nato countries racing to rearm.
The manufacturers are among a group of automotive firms vying to make thousands of 4x4s for the armed forces to replace an ageing fleet of Land Rovers that have been out of production since 2016.
The new trucks will be used across the army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force for reconnaissance and patrol missions as well as in logistics, with the first deliveries expected in 2030.
JLR would be the most high-profile UK carmaker to turn to the newly booming defence sector as manufacturers grapple with a transition to electric vehicles and rising competition from Chinese rivals.
In Germany, Volkswagen has been in talks to switch production at one of its factories from cars to heavy-duty trucks that carry anti-missile systems for the maker of Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system. Renault recently said it was repurposing part of its Le Mans chassis plant to make drones for the French government.
Last year, Keir Starmer committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence by 2035, amid a rise in military spending across Nato that has made government contracts an increasingly attractive alternative for carmakers facing flagging profits.
Defence spending across Europe, including Britain, rose 14% last year to $864bn (£638bn), the sharpest annual increase since the end of the cold war, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Mark Cameron, a managing director at JLR responsible for its Defender model, said the company would “again begin supplying UK-designed and -engineered light logistics vehicles for people and equipment transportation for the defence and blue light sectors”.
He added: “We will be exploring potential partnerships, including with organisations like the Ministry of Defence.”
JLR has not produced military vehicles since the classic Land Rover Defender line closed its Solihull factory a decade ago. The new Defender model is built at a plant in Slovakia.
General Motors, the US automotive company, is tabling a bid in partnership with BAE Systems, the British defence company, and NP Aerospace, the Coventry-based manufacturer that maintains the existing Land Rover fleet.
Gilbert Nelson, a vice-president for sales and marketing at GM’s defence business, compared the push with “the mobilisation of industry to support the defence effort” during the second world war, when the company made trucks for the British and US armies.
“There is an opportunity to re-establish and reinvigorate that relationship,” he said. Referring to growing defence budgets across the UK and Europe, he added: “We’re interested in competing wherever we can be competitive.”
GM does not have a UK factory and its bid would involve Chevrolet-based trucks produced in the US being shipped to Britain for military modifications. Nelson said the GM consortium was making “a concerted effort to maximise the UK content” in its bid.
The MoD contract covers an initial tranche of about 3,000 vehicles ranging from patrol and logistics trucks to armoured reconnaissance models, but more are expected that will eventually replace the combined 7,800 Land Rovers and Austrian-made Pinzgauer trucks now used across the military.
Companies have yet to be told how many vehicles they will need to supply. An industry source said the delay was linked to the late release of the defence investment plan, Britain’s blueprint for military spending over the next five years, which was initially supposed to be published last autumn but is still being finalised.
Ineos, which makes the Grenadier 4×4 for the civilian market, is also hoping for the contract in partnership with the defence company SMT.
Mike Whittington, the chief commercial officer of Ineos’s automotive business, said the firm wanted “to extend the availability of the Grenadier to as many governments as possible,” pointing to existing use by counter-terrorism police in Germany and France.
Other bidders include the defence manufacturer Babcock, using a modified Toyota model; the German military firm Rheinmetall with a Mercedes 4×4; and the defence firm General Dynamics with a Ford pickup.
A government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring British industry plays a central role in delivering the next generation of light mobility vehicles expected to be in the hands of soldiers by 2030.”