Jaguar Land Rover Shuts Down UK Solihull Plant For Two Weeks

Jaguar Land Rover has, as it announced earlier this month, halted production at its Solihull manufacturing facility in the UK.

The production will be suspended for two weeks and comes in response to a dramatic drop in sales across China. The plant, where the Land Rover Discovery and Range Rover models are manufactured, employs 9000 staff, but no jobs are thought to be at risk and all staff will be paid for the duration of the plant’s closure.

Discussing the issue a fortnight ago, a company spokesperson confirmed that the move was made to adjust production to demand.

“As part of the company’s continued strategy for profitable growth, Jaguar Land Rover is focused on achieving operational efficiencies and will align supply to reflect fluctuating demand globally as required.”

JLR reported a 46 per cent drop in September sales in China earlier this month. Worldwide sales also fell by 12.3 per cent year-on-year in September, to 57,114 vehicles.

The British automaker anticipated sales declines at the start of the year in China because consumers have been delaying new vehicle purchases until after the country cut import duties on vehicles. They also thought sales would rebound shortly afterwards, but they haven’t, probably due to the trade tensions between China and the United States.

“Customer demand in China in particular has struggled to recover following changes in import tariffs in July and intensifying competition on price, while ongoing global negotiations on potential trade agreements have dampened purchase considerations,” Jaguar Land Rover chief commercial officer Felix Bräutigam said.