British car giants stuck in slow lane

Aston Martin shares slump Jaguar sales tumble

stoRM clouds are gathering over two of Britain’s leading car makers.

in a worrying sign for the motor industry, Jaguar land Rover said it will close its plant in solihull for two weeks this month because of a slump in demand in China.

and shares in aston Martin fell again, taking losses since it listed on the stock market last week to 15.8pc. the rout has wiped £684m off the value of the luxury car maker.

Jaguar warned that Us President Donald trump’s trade war with China was beginning to bite, with its sales in the country down by nearly half.

Flagging global demand helped to push overall sales down to 57,114 in september, 12.3pc lower than the same time a year ago, Britain’s biggest car firm said.

the turmoil came as tensions between China and the Us continued, with the Chinese foreign ministry criticising trump’s ‘misguided actions’.

Felix Brautigam, Jaguar land Rover’s chief commercial officer, said the dispute was making it more expensive to sell cars.

sales in China dropped 46.2pc in september. in the UK they dropped 0.8pc and in north america they were down 6.9pc.

as a result, the firm is planning a two-week shutdown of its West Midlands plant.

Brautigam added: ‘We are continuing to experience challenging conditions in some of our key markets.’

Des Quinn of the Unite union, however, blamed the Government for the troubles. ‘Ministers’ trashing of diesel, despite the UK making some of the cleanest engines in the world, combined with their shambolic handling of Brexit, is damaging the UK car industry and the supply chain,’ he claimed.

aston Martin suffered another torrid day on the stock market in its first day of full trading. its shares fell 5.9pc, or 100p, to 1600p – down from its float price of 1900p – after a previous week of losses. aston is worth around £3.6bn, compared to around £4.3bn when it listed. it has led some observers to suggest the firm was over-valued.

Jordan Hiscott, chief trader at ayondo Markets, said: ‘as much as the brand is prestige, investors are a harder crowd to please and many will look with trepidation that in its 105-year history the company has technically gone bust seven times.’