JLR ‘requests’ pandemic loan
THE Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is said to be in talks with the UK government for an estimated £1 billion support package to tide through the coronavirus pandemic, according to media reports.
Britain’s largest carmaker has submitted a large bespoke loan package request, understood to be for temporary state funding, with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), reports said.
“Jaguar Land Rover [is] in discussion with government on a whole range of matters relating to Covid-19,” a JLR spokesperson said.
The Midlands luxury car giant employs around 40,000 people, with the vast majority in the UK, and supports a large number of suppliers.
Its sales fell 31 per cent in the first quarter of the year amid the lockdown. It was forced to halt production in the UK, putting staff on furlough, until restarting work amid social distancing rules at its Solihull factory last week.