Following its new world land speed record of 406.320mph achieved using hydrogen-powered technology, JCB is building further momentum for its future, with major commitments to manufacturing, a new production capacity in the United States, and the announcement that George Bamford is to become Joint Chairman of the family company.
The manufacturer is investing heavily in the transformation of its Staffordshire World HQ, while in the USA, JCB’s new factory in San Antonio, Texas – its largest in the world – is set to create 1,500 jobs over the next five years.
As JCB invests for its next chapter, George Bamford is to become Joint Chairman of the family company alongside his father, Lord Bamford. It is the first change at the top of JCB in more than 50 years, during which the business has grown from its Staffordshire roots into one of Britain’s largest privately owned manufacturers, with 23 factories and more than 20,000 employees worldwide.
The announcement coincides with JCB reporting a resilient performance in 2025, despite mixed market conditions and geopolitical headwinds around the world. Sales turnover totalled £5.7 billion, profit before tax was £642 million and machine sales reached 113,498 units, while the business remained debt-free with no net borrowings. JCB also increased its global market share, despite flat demand in North America and a 12% market contraction in India.
At the heart of JCB’s investment in Britain is the £100 million transformation of its Staffordshire headquarters – JCB’s home since 1950, when Joseph Cyril Bamford moved production into a former cheese factory in Rocester. A £60 million fully automated powder paint plant and a comprehensively modernised shop floor are part of the transformation, helping to secure the future of more than 8,000 UK jobs.
In the USA, JCB’s new $1 billion factory in San Antonio, Texas – at one million square feet, JCB’s largest factory in the world – opens next month. It will build Loadall telescopic handlers and access equipment for North America, the world’s biggest construction equipment market.
Investment in factories is being matched by investment in innovation. Hydrogen-powered machines are now in production following JCB’s £100 million programme to develop hydrogen combustion technology, making it the first construction equipment company in the world to bring a fully approved hydrogen-fuelled combustion engine to market.
Last month, those engines powered JCB into the record books at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The JCB Hydromax, driven by Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, recorded 406.320mph (653.909km/h) on the Salt Flats to become the fastest ever hydrogen-powered vehicle – more than doubling the previous hydrogen combustion record and beating JCB’s own Dieselmax diesel record, set 20 years earlier. JCB Hydromax was powered by two production-based hydrogen engines manufactured at JCB’s factory in Foston, Derbyshire, and went from idea to world record in just 18 months.
Meanwhile, the JCB Academy, a pioneering project championed by Anthony Bamford to address the UK’s engineering skills shortage, goes from strength to strength. This year 708 students applied for 314 places available this September, maintaining the Academy’s long-standing reputation for being heavily oversubscribed. Since opening in 2010, it has educated around 3,750 young people and boasts a 100% record of leavers progressing into employment or further education. This month a total of 116 new apprentices, undergraduates and graduates, selected from more than 6,300 applicants, also joined JCB.
