Luxury car maker to re-start production at its Halewood plant next month
Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced its Halewood plant, in Knowsley, will re-start production next month.
The South Liverpool site will undertake a phased ramp-up with one shift in operation, from June 8.
JLR said the decision was in response to other countries around the world emerging from lockdown, some recovery in vehicle sales, and customers slowly returning to its open showrooms.
It said that further production shifts at the Halewood site will return as demand for its product grows.
Halewood produces the top-selling Range Rover Evoque and the updated Land Rover Discovery Sport models.
JLR said: “The health and wellbeing of our employees is our first priority.
“We are developing robust protocol and guidelines to support the safety of our colleagues at work.
“We have adopted strict social distancing measures across our business and are currently evaluating a number of different measures to ensure we protect and reassure our workforce when more people begin to return to work.”
It added: “We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and follow the guidance of all relevant authorities in the markets in which we operate.”
The car maker announced the decision to shut all its UK car plants on March 20, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
It said it would close its sites at Halewood and in the West Midlands the following week for a three-week period.
Its statement said: “The company’s intention is to resume in the week of 20 April, subject to review of the rapidly-changing circumstances.
“The company will work towards an orderly return to production once conditions permit.”
This was in addition to the nine-day closure period it announced earlier in March at Halewood which it described as a “planned non-production period” to adjust production schedules at the plant.
On April 23, the company announced plans to gradually resume production at it Solihull plant, in the West Midlands, and its sites in Austria and Slovakia, from May 18.
