Car giant Jaguar Land Rover is to cut production at its Halewood plant amid slowing demand caused by Brexit uncertainty and consumer concern over the future of diesel vehicles.
A statement said the company has delivered another record breaking year in vehicle sales – the seventh year of successive growth for Britain’s largest car manufacturer.
“However, the automotive industry continues to face a range of challenges which are adversely affecting consumer confidence.
“Ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit is being felt by customers at home (with demand for new cars down 5.7% in 2017) and in Europe where collectively, we sell approximately 45% of total UK production.
“Add to this, concern around the future of petrol and diesel engines, and general global economic and political uncertainty and it’s clear to see why industry is seeing an impact on car sales.
“As is standard business practice, Jaguar Land Rover regularly reviews its production schedules to ensure market demand is balanced.”
JLR said following a review of planned volumes it was planning to make some temporary adjustments to the production schedule at Halewood in the second quarter of the year.
“Halewood has enjoyed an extraordinary transformation since the introduction of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011 and Discovery Sport in 2014 thanks to more than £700 million of investment.
“Volumes have remained at peak levels since that time allowing us to maintain what was initially a three-shift pattern. These changes to operating patterns are temporary and sensible business practice,” said the statement.
A spokesman told Autocar the brand’s Merseyside facility would adopt temporary production schedule changes, which are designed to help “re-balance” the number of Range Rover Evoques and Discovery Sports available in the marketplace.