Tata Motors Owned Jaguar Land Rover To Halt Production At UK Plants In April 2019 Amid Brexit Disrup

There's been quite a lot said by Jaguar Land Rover over Brexit. It was in July 2018, that Jaguar Land Rover Automotive announced that the UK Government needed to urgently provide certainty for business including guaranteed tariff-free access and frictionless trade with the European Union. A couple of months later, in October 2018, Tata Motors, announced a turnaround plan for JLR which had been hit hard by trade tensions between China and the US, low demand for diesel cars in Europe and worries over Brexit. It was called 'Project Charge' and Tata Motors said it planned to cut costs and improve cash flows at Jaguar Land Rover by $3.2 billion in the next 18 months.

Also Read: Jaguar Land Rover Sales Grow By 16% In India In 2018

In December last year, N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Motors Ltd. said, "JLR will continue to face global headwinds being experienced by the auto industry and to address them, the management is taking the right steps to drive operational excellence, whilst continuing to invest in innovative products and technology to stay competitive globally." He in fact dismissed the rumours that Tata Motors was looking to divest its stake in JLR or discontinue the Jaguar brand.

Jaguar Land Rover showcased a strong growth of 16% in India in 2018

But now amid the Brexit-related disruption, Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans to halt production for a week at its UK plants in April 2019. The stand-down would be between April 8 to 12 and will affect all three of the JLR's plants in the UK, as also its engine plant.

Also Read: Rolls Royce Warns Of Halting Production Due To Brexit

"We have confirmed this year's holiday dates to employees across all UK sites. As part of this, we have also confirmed that there will be an additional week of production stand-down 8th-12th April due to potential Brexit disruption," a JLR spokesperson said.

Britain is set to leave the European Union (EU) by the deadline of March 29 this year but the process has been mired in controversy. JLR employs just under 39,000 workers at its UK sites - Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, and Halewood on Merseyside. The plan to pause production follows an announcement earlier this month that the company is to cut 4,500 jobs in a bid to cut costs of up to 2.5 billion pounds.