Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed that the Solihull factory will return to work next week.
The return to work follows a long period of shutdown with Solihull closing back on 23rd March with Castle Bromwich the day after. Halewood, Liverpool by the time UK Government lockdown restrictions arrived, had been shut since March 20th.
Up to 2,000 are expected to resume next Monday 18th May 2020 which is around a quarter of the the normal workforce at Lode Lane.
Initially, they will be producing cars using a single shift per day rather than the usual three under normal conditions.
Meanwhile, over in the engine facility in Wolverhampton, just 150 returned this week with a further 150 also starting back at work on Monday 18th May.
Like all workplaces, JLR will be required to follow a broad range of “Covid-19 safe measures” to strictly ensure social distancing throughout. It s understood that phased returning of workforces is also happening at the Europeans plants in Slovakia and Austria as well. About on-third of JLR staff will be back at work globally by the end of week commencing 18th May 2020.
Some good news can be found in reports that in China, a major market for JLR, indications show that the economy there are starting to see recovery in vehicle sales. Let’s hope that the ‘green shoots’ of recovery are as quick to appear in the UK and Europe.
In the UK the outlook as been slightly less rosy as one of Jaguar Land Rover’s major suppliers, Arlington has gone into administration. The company employs 600 people in the manufacture of thermostats and assembly of engineered vehicle systems. Hey are thought to be the first major UK manufacturer to go out of business directly as a result of COVID-19.
One of the interesting news stories to come out of the lockdown period was the announcement of a new 3 – cylinder plug-in hybrid power plant.
The 1.5-litre three-cylinder plug-in hybrid seamlessly combines a conventional petrol engine, the smallest in the Ingenium range, with an electric motor to provide sustainable, efficient all-electric performance for shorter trips plus traditional power or combined petrol and electric drive for optimum efficiency on longer journeys. The new technology is not yet being promised to any Jaguars in the range and will be rolled out into Land Rover models first, but one worth watching for the future.
