Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is planning to reduce production at its Halewood plant in the second quarter of this calendar year. It says the reduction is temporary and designed to rebalance the supply of Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque models given market conditions and demand.
It is expected that the plant will operate on two shifts rather than three, taking around 20,000 units of capacity out from the 200,000 pa total. Economic uncertainties (including Brexit) and continued market confusion over diesel – which is rapidly losing share in the UK and European markets – are behind the move.
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The company has confirmed there will be a “temporary adjustment to the shift pattern from mid-April until July.” There is currently no talk of job cuts at Halewood or of the dropped shift extending beyond July.
The company’s Halewood plant – on Merseyside, northwest England – builds the Discovery Sport and Evoque models.
According to just-auto analysis, production volume at Halewood will decline to just over 170k in 2018 from an estimated build of 183k in 2017 (a 6% decline). As well as the factors identified behind the move both models built at the plant are now past peak. The Evoque is nearing the end of its life cycle – as well as being built in China in increasing volume – before replacement by L551 in 2019, while the Discovery Sport is now mid-cycle where market volumes traditionally start to wane.
JLR is also reportedly trimming production at its Castle Bromwich plant.
Reports suggest that no cars were produced at the plant for four weeks over the Christmas period and that another two weeks of shutdowns are planned.
