Just now on Financial Times website

Jaguar Land Rover is flying components out of China in suitcases as it races to prevent its UK plants from closing by the end of this month.

Sir Ralf Speth, chief executive of the UK’s biggest carmaker, said the company’s British plants were “safe for this week” and the week after, but faced difficulties sourcing parts from China in the following weeks, which represented “a risk for overall production”.

“We have flown parts in suitcases from China to the UK just to make sure that we have got the right parts,” he said, adding that last week the company was missing 38 key components.

Transporting parts by air is quicker than sea freight shipments but more expensive and only possible with far smaller volumes than carmakers conventionally need.

Sir Ralf said the “very first critical part” for which JLR was facing a shortage was the key fob. “We have to take all the key systems apart and every car only gets, at the moment, one key fob — just to make sure we can produce.”

JLR is the latest company to resort to rushing parts out of China due to supply chain disruption, with smartphone maker Samsung flying electronic components from China to its factories in Vietnam.

The manufacturer, which has three factories in the UK, joins a growing list of carmakers warning of their supply chains being hurt by the deadly coronavirus, which has spread around the world from Wuhan in China and killed nearly 1,900 people.

In early February, Fiat Chrysler said that one of its European plants would be forced to halt production in a matter of weeks as it struggles to source key parts from Chinese suppliers.

Toyota, Hyundai, Volvo and PSA, the owner of Peugeot, are among the carmakers to have disclosed that coronavirus is disrupting their supply chains or risks doing so. Hyundai and Nissan have closed their sites in South Korea.

“If we miss a critical part then there might be a risk for overall production,” Sir Ralf told journalists at an event unveiling the company’s autonomous electric car, Project Vector.

He said special teams had been set up to manage and monitor the situation but “nobody can predict the future”. JLR is set to restart production in China next week but the chief executive warned that although they were “safe for the very first week”, the situation was “really critical” and they were looking to third and fourth-choice suppliers for components.

JLR’s chief executive, who will step back from his position in September, added that car sales in China were nonexistent. “Nothing is happening . . . it’s zero.”

Speaking at the same event, Guenter Butschek, chief executive of JLR’s parent company Tata Motors, said the company would be able to operate in February and early March but was not covered for the whole of March. He added that the “biggest problem is logistics” and the difficulty of getting components out of China.
 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

"is this your case sir ?"

"did you pack it yourself ?"

"has anyone asked you to take something for them ?"





..... the badge gave me away.
.

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic35099.html

Read short link above.

Jag may be on strike by then ?
.

They will get fobbed off with something I guess.  3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Just now on Financial Times website


Sir Ralf said the “very first critical part” for which JLR was facing a shortage was the key fob. “We have to take all the key systems apart and every car only gets, at the moment, one key fob — just to make sure we can produce.”

Could be a srious lesson for JLR and others, get your parts made in the UK
Cheers
Moe

IanMetro wrote:

Or is it too easy, it used to work in the good old days, and I even had several cars where after a couple of years you didn't even need a key, even a screwdriver would do the trick.

^^^

So true! My old Ford Cortina MkIV key would open pretty much any other Ford at the time.....even Granada 2.8i Ghia X's!! Now that was an upgrade one night.....

Please note: no vehicles, people or animals were damaged that night back in the mid-80's, and the car was duly returned to the Landlord of the pub the next day undamaged......

My Dad had a Wolseley 1500 and the ignition key was in the middle of the walnut dashboard. He used to put a strip
of insulting tape over the keyhole as the lock number was stamped on it and thieves would read the lock number through the rear window with binoculars. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Have you got a replacement diff in that suitcase sir ???

Transferring car parts by suitcase is not new.
In the 1970s, when the computer equipment courses were several months long and people attended from all over the world, I remember a couple of Indian engineers who used their spare time to seek out Ford Anglia parts so that they could strip them down and take home via a suitcase on an aircraft.
It seems that, in those days, import duty and availability of parts made it difficult to run a car in India. Also they told tales on how lots of bodywork and mechanical bits were skilfully modified and re-engineered to fit broken cars at the roadside. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

IanMetro wrote:

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Just now on Financial Times website


Sir Ralf said the “very first critical part” for which JLR was facing a shortage was the key fob. “We have to take all the key systems apart and every car only gets, at the moment, one key fob — just to make sure we can produce.”

I am wondering how much I could get by suggesting an alternative method of locking. (i.e. a work-around)

What I am thinking is why not put a mechanical lever/latch/bolt in the door, worked by a key, which would engage in the door pillar.

Or is it too easy, it used to work in the good old days, and I even had several cars where after a couple of years you didn't even need a key, even a screwdriver would do the trick.

Unfortunately it would have to be tested and homologated before release, should take only about ten times longer than the delay  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......