Jaguar Land Rover intends to close factories in the United Kingdom for a week in November. While the move is to safeguard the company against a messy Brexit, the company has said it will take place whether or not the nation actually splits from Europe at the end of October. JLR Chief Executive Officer Ralf Speth confirmed the company’s decision late last month.
Brexit has been a long time coming. While the UK voted to leave the European Union over three years ago, considerable energy has gone into postponing the event to either undo the vote (via a follow-up referendum) or delay things long enough to reach a trade agreement with the EU. Automakers have encouraged a deal in order to avoid supply chain disruptions. However, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the nation has waited long enough, promising a no-deal Brexit on October 31st if an accord cannot be reached beforehand.
While JLR won’t be the only automotive manufacturer to temporarily shutter European plants over Brexit fears, reports suggest it’s likely to be the one with the broadest implications.
From Bloomberg:
The temporary halt will mean lost production for the unit of Tata Motors Ltd., already impacted by a global slowdown in the car industry. JLR brought forward its usual August maintenance closure as part of preparations for the original March 29 Brexit date, a measure that proved to be in vain after the deadline was shifted to October.
“We have to close,” Speth said. “You cannot switch it on and off. I need to make commitments to my suppliers, I need to have every part available and I need it just in time. If I don’t have a part, I don’t produce a car.”
The overriding fear is that abandoning the EU will create backups at the border, delaying parts automakers need to manufacture product. While this is largely seen as a temporary issue, some suggest it could be weeks before supply routes begin flowing smoothly.
BMW Group said it would halt production at its Mini plant in Oxford for two days, starting October 31st, regardless of how Brexit goes down. It also intends to eliminate a shift to reduce overall output if there’s a no-deal solution.
Toyota also plans on stalling its main European factory in the UK at the start of November. However, its closure will only result in a three-day weekend for staff — hopefully enough for it to avoid the worst of what Brexit has to offer. Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK said it plans on returning to business as usual on November 4th and intends to ship in extra materials beforehand to ensure an adequate parts supply.
[Image: jax10289/Shutterstock]
Friendly suggestion: rewrite that headline to include the word “temporarily”. Otherwise, the headline suggests that the company’s closing its’ UK plants down altogether.
By the way, wouldn’t it have been nice for the Brexiteer bunch to actually lay out just how difficult this was going to be for the country? I suspect if people had a chance to mulligan this vote, many would.
That’s how I read it too……
Honda did permanently close their UK factory largely due to Brexit-related fears
It did not sell. Honda most likely will leave Europe altogether. Too expensive for what you get. simply cannot compete with European brands and even with Koreans.
How about a sales graph to juxtapose the article against?
Jag/LR Dec 2018 sales were down 6.4% and 11.4% YoY respectively.
https://media.jaguarlandrover.com/news/2019/01/jaguar-land-rover-reports-december-2018-and-year-end-sales
With a no-deal Brexit looming, going to be hard to a manufacturer in GB and export your goods when it is just a big black hole on what that will look like.
No, Brexit will be good and easy to win.
Wait, that’s trade wars. I’m getting my woo-hoo-nationalism-rocks slogans mixed up.
A slow motion train wreck.
Now I fully comprehend the meaning of the saying.
Although the train is still on the rails…for now.
It will be interesting to see which other economies will be severely impacted.