Jaguar Land Rover will reduce or stop production on certain days at two of its UK factories over the next few weeks, Reuters reports. However, it’s not related to the coronavirus outbreak that’s currently gripping China – instead, this slashing of output comes as the premium carmaker pursues cost-cutting measures in response to falling demand.
The report says that JLR posted a 2.3% drop in sales in the final quarter of 2019 and has targeted billions of pounds worth of savings to tackle falling demand for diesels in Europe, as well as a sluggish market in China.
JLR will halt production on selected days over a four-week period from late February at its Castle Bromwich plant in and stop production on some half or full days at the nearby Solihull facility until the end of March. “The external environment remains challenging for our industry and the company is taking decisive actions to achieve the necessary operational efficiencies to safeguard long-term success,” the Range Rover-maker said in a statement.
“We have confirmed that Solihull and Castle Bromwich will make some minor changes to their production schedules to reflect fluctuating demand globally, whilst still meeting customer needs,” it added.
So, this production hiccup isn’t due to the coronavirus, which has forced many carmakers to halt production in China. Outside of China, Hyundai has suspended production in South Korea due to parts shortage from China. Fiat Chrysler has warned that a European plant could shut down within two to four weeks if Chinese parts suppliers cannot get back to work due to the outbreak.
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Honest of them to admit they are downsizing due to customers no longer buying their cars, unlike Hyundai and Toyota that are blaming coronavirus but we all know they suffer the same problems as JLR.
Someone said that no such thing a virus could affect production stoppages in China & Korea. This must be their UEC logic, and based on their logic these companies in China & Korea must be full with Uitm grads.
Believe the lower demand due to three factors namely BREXIT, EV and climate control.