Jaguar Land Rover to cut another 200 jobs in Solihull
Another 200 jobs are to be lost at Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull factory – on top of the 1,000 job cuts announced earlier this year – as a slump in sales and the shift to production in Slovakia affects UK manufacturing.
The car manufacturer announced in the summer that production of its Land Rover Discovery SUV would move from its Solihull plant.
JLR also said there would be a temporary pause in production at its Wolverhampton engine manufacturing centre.
In a statement, the company said: “Today, we have confirmed that Solihull will make some changes to its production schedule to reflect fluctuating demand globally and forthcoming infrastructure works resulting from the cessation of Discovery which will move, as already confirmed, to Slovakia early in the new year. Customer orders will not be impacted by any of these changes.”
The car maker is having to deal with a series of challenges. A slowdown in sales, with China proving particularly patchy in 2018, combined with a longer-term move away from diesel by car buyers is affecting the automotive manufacturer.
Its UK operations are also affected by Brexit uncertainty, although JLR’s huge site in Nitra, Slovakia, which has opened recently was planned before the 2016 referendum.
JLR’s £1bn manufacturing facility in Slovakia
Last month, JLR opened the doors to its £1bn manufacturing facility in Slovakia, which will employ 1,500 workers.
The 300,000 sq m facility in Nitra will have annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year. The first Land Rover Discovery rolled off the production line in September.
Earlier this month, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street revealed that Jaguar Land Rover is “sitting waiting on hundreds of millions of pounds of investment decisions” that will be implemented in the UK if the right Brexit deal is agreed.
JLR itself has also restated its commitment to manufacturing in the UK, highlighting “significant investment recently committed to Halewood for production of the new Range Rover Evoque and Solihull which will build the next generation of Range Rover”.
“The external environment remains challenging and the company is taking decisive actions to achieve the necessary operational efficiencies to safeguard long-term success. To deliver a growing range of electrified cars for our customers we are making tough decisions, but the transformation of the business relies on this.”
