Jaguar Land Rover factory closure

Jaguar Land Rover are to close one of their production facilities in the Midlands

JLR unions have already brokered a deal to ensure no job losses in the short term, but JLR are committed to rationalising their manufacturing across just two plants in the UK, instead of the existing three. The decision will be made about which plant to close in the next eighteen months.

The most likely scenario is that JLR will close Solihull – which currently produces Land Rovers and employs 5000 people – and concentrate Land Rover production at Halewood. That would leave Castle Bromwich as the home of Jaguar production.

JLR say this is a response to the fall in luxury car sales and the need to rationalise production. But it’s probably much wider than that. We see no prospect that JLR will cease production in the UK, but we also see that any additional production capacity needed – as a result of the exciting new models from both Jaguar and Land Rover – will be made outside the UK. And almost certainly in India.

Tata are a business, after all. And the UK hasn’t exactly bent over backwards to help Tata.

By Cars UK