Production cut at Midlands based car manufacturer

JAGUAR Land Rover has announced it is cutting production at its factory at its Halewood plant on Merseyside – in part because of uncertainty over Brexit.

The Coventry car maker said slowing demand had been caused by Brexit uncertainty and consumer concern over the future of diesel vehicles.

The move comes despite continued growth for the car maker, which also has ambitious plans to accelerate electric vehicle production, with Coventry earmarked as a key site to deliver Jaguar Land Rover’s “cars of the future”.

In making the announcement Jaguar Land Rover stressed it had achieved another record breaking year in vehicle sales - its seventh in succession.

But it went on to say that the automotive industry faced a series of challenges which it needed to address.

The models affected are both Land Rover models, the marque which dominates Jaguar Land Rover sales figures.

The Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport are made in Halewood and production of both will be scaled back.

In a statement, Jaguar Land Rover said: “The automotive industry continues to face a

range of challenges which are adversely affecting consumer confidence.

“Ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit is being felt by customers at home (with demand for new cars down 5.7 per cent in 2017) and in Europe where collectively, we sell approximately 45 per cent of total UK production.

“Add to this, concern around the future of petrol and diesel engines, and general global economic and political uncertainty and it’s clear to see why industry is seeing an impact on car sales.

“As is standard business practice, Jaguar Land Rover regularly reviews its production schedules to ensure market demand is balanced.”

Jaguar Land Rover said that, following a review of planned volumes, it was planning to make some temporary adjustments to the production schedule at Halewood in the second quarter of the year.

The company statement added: “Halewood has enjoyed an extraordinary transformation since the introduction of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011 and Discovery Sport in 2014 thanks to more than £700 million of investment.

“Volumes have remained at peak levels since that time, allowing us to maintain what was initially a three-shift pattern.

“These changes to operating patterns are temporary and sensible business practice.”

A company spokesman told the magazine Autocar that the car maker’s Merseyside factory would adopt temporary production schedule changes, which are designed to help “re-balance” the number of Range Rover Evoques and Discovery Sports available in the marketplace.