Aston Martin is extending by a week production stoppages at its St Athan DBX plant until 27 April. Production will be suspended from today when it planned to restart because of the current global and local position concerning suppliers and employees, Aston Martin confirmed and Britain's biggest automaker, Jaguar Land Rover, has not set a date for restarting while Nissan said that the production … [Read more...]
Ford Bridgend Engine Plant still working – for now
Ford Bridgend Engine Plant will continue producing contracted petrol V6 and V8 units for Jaguar Land Rover for as long as it can, the company has told media. JLR said it had enough parts in stock to build cars until the end of this week at least, possibly longer. It also uses petrol and diesel engines from its own plant in the West Midlands. Nissan has announced today it is suspending … [Read more...]
JLR axing 500 posts in Halewood
Jaguar Land Rover is cutting 500 places at its Halewood, Merseyside plant making Evoque and Discovery Sport models. The reduction comes after it decided to move from three shift working to a ‘two-plus’ system next April and it hopes to make the cut through natural wastage and not enforced redundancies after falling demand in the sectors. Today the company announced the leasing of 700 electric … [Read more...]
Tradelines 15 January
Jaguar Land Rover sales slowly recovered in December after a 6% dip overall in 2019, according to financial reports. Annual sales of 557,706 were down mostly due to a 13.5% slump in China but it’s reorganised its outlets and marketing there and has seen them picking up again as it moves towards an electric programme with BMW. In 2019, Bridgestone remained the number one choice for BMW, Audi, … [Read more...]
Sunday drive: Jaguar XE Reims
In true racing tradition of tight timing, Jaguar set an embargo date and time last week of one minute past midnight to announce their special edition Jaguar XE Reims model with just 200 units for sale solely in the UK, writes David Miles. By 0.945am the same day I was sat behind the wheel of the car giving it a very brief test drive around the winding but traffic-busy Warwickshire country … [Read more...]
Tradelines 13 November
Nissan profits have collapsed by 70% in three months. It made $278M to the end of September with retail sales down 7.5% globally, European registrations slid 23% but sales showed a steadying picture in America. JLR is looking for partners to share new technology and other costs, say media reports. BMW and Zhejiang Geely are mentioned but others may be approached to assist market improvements in … [Read more...]
Newslines 12 November
Volkswagen is breaking new ground with a concept for an electric estate car to be shown at the Los Angeles motor show the end of this week. The ID Space Vizzion is their latest proposal for a new model after a future EV hatchback was unveiled in the autumn. Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to shut down assembly plants last week to ease any Brexit issues with components and stocks will cost the UK … [Read more...]
Newslines 15 October
Over 50 BMW models, two from Rolls-Royce and a Toyota Supra are among 257,473 new cars recalled by US safety experts. All have been fitted since 2018 with a reversing camera which may not show any image due to a fault in the system settings, although the camera is working. As part of Vauxhall’s ongoing commitment to reduce CO2 emissions, the manufacturer has revealed information on the … [Read more...]
Newslines 23 August
Wales-based Road Safety Designs has signed a contract which could be worth as much as a quarter of a million pounds a year with Australian distributor Dometic following their meeting in Sydney in April and now the lives of Australian drivers, passengers and other road users will be saved as a result. The BriteAngle LED warning triangle makes the motorist much more visible in the event of an … [Read more...]
Newslines 7 June
JLR and BMW will jointly develop their future electric motors and powertrains. The German company will design them and the UK business will build them for both companies after reports BMW will also supply new V8 engines to JLR models for certain markets. Fiat Chrysler has withdrawn a $35 billion merger offer for France's Renault, blaming a breakdown in discussions on the French Government … [Read more...]