Autocar
Production shake-up at Land Rover as it readies new Range Rover
Discovery production to move from Solihull to Slovakia; Evoque production to remain at Halewood
Jaguar Land Rover to move Discovery production out of UK
Jimi Beckwith
by Jimi Beckwith
11 June 2018
Jaguar Land Rover has announced an overhaul of its UK manufacturing operations, revealing plans for a new family of Range Rover models and the relocation of Discovery production to JLR's new facility in Nitra, Slovakia.
A JLR statement also detailed plans for a refit at the Halewood production facility in Liverpool ahead of the next Range Rover Evoque's launch next year - meaning the entry-level Range Rover will continue to be built at the plant.
Alongside this, JLR says “a significant investment and technology upgrade” in Solihull will prepare the plant for other new and upcoming Land Rover models. These will be the next Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, which will be built on an all-new architecture.
A company spokesman said that the refit would free up future capacity for the Solihull factory. It is possible a new family of electrified and electric JLR cars arriving from next year – including the relaunched XJ and a Range Rover EV, which is codenamed Road Rover and expected to be launched before the start of the next decade – could be produced at the plant, as part of JLR's desire to build electric cars in the UK.
No physical expansion of the Solihull factory is proposed as a result of the shift in production, but JLR claims the planned change in models helps to future-proof the plant. The investment in the UK facilities is said to be in the "hundreds of millions".
The opening of the Nitra plant was originally intended to take pressure off JLR’s UK factories, sharing Discovery production with the Solihull plant. Instead, Nitra will now produce all Discovery models. The next-generation Defender is also set to the built there, given its relationship to the Discovery's underpinnings and the lower production costs.
In a statement on the impact on jobs, JLR said: “The decision to move the Land Rover Discovery to Slovakia and the potential losses of some agency-employed staff in the UK is a tough one but forms part of our long-term manufacturing strategy as we transform our business globally.”
In April, JLR laid off 1000 of its 40,000-strong UK workforce following a decrease in demand across the UK and Europe.
Around 46,000 Discoverys are made annually in Solihull, 80% of which head for foreign markets. The move to Slovakia for Discovery production will take effect at the start of 2019. The Discovery makes up about 10% of Land Rover's total sales.
Read more
2017 Land Rover Discovery to be built at new Slovakian plant
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Is this a triumph of style over substance, or is the fifth-gen Land Rover Discovery the best yet?
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52
Mikey C
Sad for the workers directly
11 June 2018
Sad for the workers directly affected, but it never made sense for a relatively low volume product like the Discovery to have 2 production lines in Europe.
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289
Discovery production move.
11 June 2018
This has bugger-all to do with Brexit, and everything to do withmaking the most of their new Slovakian facility, cutting costs in the process, and probably improving quality control....given the high quality of the Slovakian Touareg/Cayenne/Q8 Volkswagen Group facility.
I love the way the JLR press release states "Agency staff losing their jobs".....Oh, that makes it all right then....they wont have families children etc depending on their income!
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Cheltenhamshire
289 wrote:
11 June 2018
289 wrote:
This has bugger-all to do with Brexit, and everything to do withmaking the most of their new Slovakian facility, cutting costs in the process, and probably improving quality control....given the high quality of the Slovakian Touareg/Cayenne/Q8 Volkswagen Group facility.
I love the way the JLR press release states "Agency staff losing their jobs".....Oh, that makes it all right then....they wont have families children etc depending on their income!
Those workers may well just go home to Slovakia and get jobs as supervisors at this new factory!
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scrap
Uh oh. Bad news, and the
11 June 2018
Uh oh. Bad news, and the statement about “transforming the business globally” sounds ominous.
Brexit ain’t helping, is it?
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scotty5
scrap wrote:
11 June 2018
scrap wrote:
Uh oh. Bad news, and the statement about “transforming the business globally” sounds ominous.
Brexit ain’t helping, is it?
The investment in the UK facilities is said to be in the "hundreds of millions".
The trouble with some (or should that be all) Brexit voters is they're now determined for the UK to fail. Any negative news is blamed on Brexit, any positive news is simply ignored to meet their own biased agenda.
The manufacturing plan sounds to me like Brexit had sod all to do with JLR's decision, especially since JLR announced plans to build the factory in Dec 2015 - six months BEFORE the vote on Brexit.
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NotHandMade
Extra models
11 June 2018
With Solihull building an ever growing line of models it makes sense to move one out.
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k12479
NotHandMade wrote:
11 June 2018
NotHandMade wrote:
With Solihull building an ever growing line of models it makes sense to move one out.
This is not due to ever growing models, this is due to additional capacity coming on line whilst volumes are stalling.
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hackjo
Here we go...
11 June 2018
Bean counters strike again. It's a matter of time before most of the JLR range goes overseas in the pursuit of cheaper build figures, at the cost of UK jobs, quality and brand image.
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Peter Cavellini
The Brexit effect....?
11 June 2018
Sadly I think so, if May and her minions want to score some Brownie points with us the voters they’d better step in now!, sitting there with a semi smug Face thinking it’ll be alright after full Brexit isn’t going to convince other workers in other multi national company’s that their Jobs are save!!!!
Peter Cavellini.
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Bazzer
Peter
11 June 2018
Brexit wasn't about economics. No one said, 'Let's vote leave so that we can be better off'. Brexit is about politics, not economics. The economics are a side issue - an important one, yes, but still a side issue. Brexit is about having ultimate control over our judicial system, our trade tariffs, and our population level. In other words, it's about becoming a sovereign nation state again. We lost control while in the EU - as that's what the EU is about!
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