Jaguar Land Rover to halt production at UK factories for Brexit

JLR, Britain’s biggest exporter of cars, has long argued that a disorderly departure from the European Union could disrupt the flow of components and vehicles, disrupting production and making factories unviabile.

With Prime Minister Boris Johnson determined to push through the Brexit with or without an exit deal, on 31 October, chief executive Ralf Speth said Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had to make plans now, including a stop to production at its four British factories during the first week of November.

“We cannot think about it, we just have to do it,” he told reporters at an event in Gaydon, central England, to mark the opening of a new advanced product creation center.

“I need 20 million parts a day and that means I have to make commitments to my suppliers, I have to have every and each part available and I have to have it just in time,” he said.

The move will affect the firm’s three car factories, which built just under a third of Britain’s 1.5 million cars last year, and its engine facility in Wolverhampton.

Japanese carmarker Toyota said in August it would not build cars at its British factory on 1 November while BMW said it would halt production at its Oxford plant on 31 October and 1 November.

Speth said JLR would also change shift patterns at its Halewood factory near Liverpool leading to a cut in output due to the “cyclical challenge” facing the car industry.

JLR, which had a profitable run for nearly a decade and expanded rapidly overseas, has recently posted losses due to a slowdown in China and a hit to diesel sales, particularly in Europe.