Tata Motors chief Ratan Tata visited Coventry to formally open Jaguar Land Rover’s new global headquarters.

The new HQ has been built next to the firm’s engineering centre at Whitley and continues Jaguar’s long association with the city.

The facility will be home to JLR’s executive committee and some support staff.

A company spokeswoman said it represented the first major step towards the company delivering on its desire to consolidate its engineering and corporate operations across its two sites in Coventry and Gaydon.

She added that both sites were seen as vital for the continued prosperity of the business and its “iconic brands”.

“This move will ensure the company has the right foundations to deliver on its ambitious growth plans.”

Ralph Speth, chief executive officer of JLR said: “The opening of this building signifies a new chapter in the Jaguar Land Rover story.

“We are embarking on our most ambitious product creation programme which will see us invest more than £1.5 billion annually for the next five years.

“To support those plans we are also investing heavily in products, people and of course infrastructure at all of our sites and Whitley is no exception.

"Whitley will, over the coming months, become the centre of our global business operations as key corporate functions from finance and purchasing to marketing and HR move across to the site from our R&D centre at Gaydon, thus allowing us to create a leading advanced engineering centre for the development of innovative and exciting products for the future.”

The company has also appointed Jeremy Hicks as managing director, Jaguar Land Rover UK.

Mr Hicks, who will report to Phil Popham, director, group sales operations, has held a number of senior positions in the industry. He began his career with Vauxhall in the UK and from 2005 was Audi UK managing director.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to lead two iconic brands in their home market,” he said.

Geoff Cousins, presently managing director of Jaguar UK, becomes director, Jaguar global sponsorships & partnerships, while Colin Green, presently managing director of Land Rover UK, becomes director of global dealer operations.

Both will report to Mr Hicks.