Jaguar Land Rover opens new $1.6 billion factory in Slovakia

Jaguar Land Rover is opening a new, $1.6 billion plant in Slovakia, the luxury car maker's first in continental Europe.

The U.K.-based company, owned by India's Tata Motors, built the plant near Nitra, about 65 miles east of Bratislava, to initially produce 150,000 cars a year. The Slovak government is giving the carmaker investment subsidies of up to 130 million euros ($148 million).

Slovakia is a regional car-making powerhouse. Germany's Volkswagen AG, France's PSA Peugeot Citroen and South Korea's Kia Motors all have a major plant in this Central European country of 5.4 million people.

The company said it will shift all production of its Discovery model from Birmingham, England, to Slovakia amid falling diesel sales, vehicle taxes and uncertainty about Britain's Brexit departure from the European Union.