JAGUAR Land Rover has announced an extra week-long shutdown in production in April, a company spokesperson has confirmed.
It will effect its car plants in Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Halewood as well as its engine plant in Wolverhampton.
A JLR spokesperson said: “On January 24 we confirmed this year’s holiday dates to employees across all sites.
“As part of this, we have also confirmed that there will be an additional week of production stand-down April 8 -12 due to potential Brexit disruption.”
It is the latest in a long line of setbacks for the Solihull and Coventry-based luxury car manufacturer.
The stand-down follows the announcement that 4,500 jobs will be axed by the firm, the majority in the UK.
It is another major blow to West Midlands manufacturing with tens of thousands of jobs in the supply chain.
The company has attributed its long-running difficulties to falling demand in diesel vehicles, Brexit-related market uncertainty and China slashing import tariffs.
The cut backs come as part of a £2.5billion savings programme over an initial 18 months and beyond, which chiefs say will secure the company’s future.
As we have reported, hundreds of jobs went at Solihull’s Lode Lane plant and at Castle Bromwich last year.
In total, 1,500 workers left the company last year.
And around 1,000 workers also switched to a three-day week.
The UK workforce is about 40,000, the majority of which are based in the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire region.
The firm also opened its new factory in Nitra, Slovakia, which opened in October.
It triggered further job losses as production of the Discovery model was switched to the new plant.
Chief executive Ralf Speth has repeatedly warned of the disastrous consequences of a no-deal Brexit – for the company and UK manufacturing.
