Jaguar has announced that production of the X-Type car at the Halewood factory will cease before the end of 2009 with the loss of up to 300 jobs.
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Manufacture of Land-Rover Freelander models will continue at the Halewood site.
Jaguar Land Rover – owned by the Tata Group – said it would be seeking voluntary redundancies at Halewood.
Jaguar Land Rover Chief Executive David Smith said: “Our industry has been especially badly hit by the recession and the premium sector more than others.”
He went on: “Jaguar Land Rover’s retail sales fell by 28 in the past 10 months. We have taken unprecedented actions to cut costs including reduced production volumes, significant cuts to investment plans and some 2,200 job losses.
“Ceasing production of the X-Type early, with further redundancies and temporary shut-downs at Halewood is necessary to protect our other investment plans.”
Mr Smith added that further actions will be determined by the state of the market.
The X-Type was a controversial car, conceived at the beginning of the decade when JLR was owned by Ford and part of a platform-sharing industrial strategy for Ford’s European premium brands. However, the Mondeo platform-based car never achieved ambitious sales targets.
See also:
FEATURE: Jaguar sets course for exclusivity
COMMENT: What’s wrong with the Jaguar X-type?
