JLR announces production cuts

JAGUAR Land Rover (JLR) has cut production at two of its UK plants – Castle Bromwich and Solihull – as the British car-maker continues to implement cost-saving measures, according to a report from Reuters.

The report says that production at Castle Bromwich will be stopped on chosen days during a four-week period spanning from late February to the end of March, affecting production capacities for the Jaguar XE, XF and F-Type.

Meanwhile, the Solihull plant, which handles production for the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar and Jaguar F-Pace, will also wind down production for half or full days.

Its running down of production is the hope of saving £1.1 billion (A$2.12b), forming part of the wider ‘Charge and Accelerate’ program that JLR hopes to result in £4b (A47.7b) in cost savings.

The decision to cut production comes after JLR announced a global retail sales dip of 2.3 per cent over the last quarter of 2019, despite recording £6.4b (A$12.33b) in revenue and £318 million (A$612m) in pre-tax profit over that period.

In a statement to Reuters, the company said: “The external environment remains challenging for our industry and the company is taking decisive actions to achieve the necessary operational efficiencies to safeguard long-term success.

“We have confirmed that Solihull and Castle Bromwich will make some minor changes to their production schedules to reflect fluctuating demand globally, whilst still meeting customer needs.”

JLR has spent recent months and years whipping itself into financial shape, with cost-cutting measures announced last January resulting in around 4500 jobs axed from its global workforce in an effort to create long-term, sustainable growth.

In the second quarter of 2019 the brand recorded a pre-tax loss of £395m (A$760m), despite record sales in the UK and increased volume in China.

At the start of 2019, Land Rover announced it was axing two niche production projects, the first being the luxurious two-door Range Rover SV Coupe that was set for a global production run of 999 units after being revealed at the 2018 Geneva motor show.

A month later, the company announced it was shelving plans to produce the hi-po, off-road focused Discovery SVX, which combined a number of off-road accessories for increased ability, combined with a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 good for 386kW/625Nm.

In 2019, Land Rover sales fell 12.0 per cent in Australia to 8879 units, with the Range Rover Sport (2202) finishing as the brand’s most popular offering.

Local Jaguar sales slipped 15.1 per cent over the same period to 2274 units, with the brand streamlining a number of its product offerings in recent times.