500 jobs to go in Halewood just announced on BBC

Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

Last edited by dunkley201 on 22nd Jan 2020 1:47 pm. Edited 1 time in total

It never rains ...... it Hails !



https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liver...s-17610053


Jaguar Land Rover axes 500 staff at Halewood plant as cost-cutting accelerates


.

It could be worse ....

From todays FT article on the German car industry...

Last year more than 50,000 lay-offs were announced by the country’s manufacturers and suppliers, while a state-sanctioned report has said a further 400,000 roles are at risk if carmakers fail to maintain their competitive advantage.

Daimler issued a profit warning over €1.5bn dieselgate litigation costs plus a 50% drop in pre-tax earnings Jules

There looks like an awful lot of last years production of cars and vans are stored at Avonmouth Docks.

I have been going over the M5 bridge for years, and this is the most cars I have ever seen waiting to come in or go out of the country.

Also my local LR dealer has so many used (pre-registered?) cars on their premises that you now have to park outside on the road when visiting.

I think that 'real' sales figures for last year must be quite low for most cars. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

Trump also threatening to slap tariffs on UK car imports into the US, not looking good for LR as the US is it’s largest market.

Trump has 'allegedly' slapped a lot of things over the years

Jack frost wrote:

Trump also threatening to slap tariffs on UK car imports into the US, not looking good for LR as the US is it’s largest market.

Hmmm that bodes well for post-Brexit trade negotiations with our "special relationship" best buddies.  Jules

Just appeared in Financial Times

Jaguar Land Rover plans to cut 500 jobs at its Halewood plant in Merseyside as it pushes ahead with a wider restructuring programme aimed at reversing losses.

Britain’s largest carmaker said on Wednesday it would bring in a new shift pattern at the plant, where it builds its Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport models, that would affect 10 per cent of the site’s workforce from April.

JLR directly employs about 4,000 people at Halewood and roughly 1,000 additional agency staff.

Like other carmakers, the group has come under pressure because of the UK’s imminent departure from the EU.

If Brexit leads to Britain abandoning EU standards and setting its own rules, as chancellor Sajid Javid suggested at the weekend, companies wanting to sell vehicles in the UK will probably need to obtain a separate certificate to do so, increasing the costs of making cars specifically for the British market.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has warned that any move to diverge from EU regulations would result in “billions” of pounds in costs to UK carmakers.

Des Quinn, national officer at Unite, the UK and Ireland’s biggest union, described the job cuts as “a further blow to the UK car industry”, adding that “the challenges being faced at JLR are also being experienced by other UK car factories”.

“Until the government ensures that there is long-term frictionless trade and no tariffs with the EU along with meaningful investment in the infrastructure to ensure the success of electric vehicles, the UK’s car industry will continue to experience severe challenges,” said Mr Quinn.

The job cuts come as the group carries out a wider £2.5bn turnround plan aimed at lowering costs and refocusing the business, following deep losses in China and the decline in demand for diesel cars that account for the vast majority of its UK and European businesses.

“Through its ongoing transformation programme, JLR is taking action to optimise performance, enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

JLR said a year ago that the plan would involve slashing 4,500 jobs on top of the 1,500 roles it shed in 2018.

The company’s turnround has started to bear fruit, however. It returned to profit in the latter part of 2019, according to the company’s latest set of results, as sales improved in China and it cut costs across the business.

JLR reported pre-tax profit of £156m for the three months to September, compared with a loss of £395m the previous quarter, and a £90m loss in the same period a year earlier.

I wonder if they have given any thought to stimulating demand by reducing prices? 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Bit silly, the vehicles we manufacture presently comply with EU regs (obviously) why would a manufacturer change the spec so they could not sell, until EU regs change on certain items then UK manufacturers would have to change that part to comply, same as they do now for any other market ROW.

This has happened for years and will not change, my whole working career in R&E all we did was engineer to comply with other market regs.

Some thick smoke and house of mirrors distortion here. Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

Indeed, JLR has being making USA spec cars (NAS) for years. Jules

I often visit the Solihull and Halewood factories, and most of the cars seen are LHD,
so clearly exports are their main market share.