Jaguar World Magazine S-Type Ultimate Guide Nov 2009 Back Issue

Jaguar Land Rover to Axe UK Plant’, ‘Jaguar to
wind down plant’ and ‘Jaguar Land Rover to
close factory’ – those were just three of the
many similar headlines that followed JLR’s
announcement of its new business plan on 24
September. Read in isolation, you’d have
thought that the end was nigh for the two
brands, but the other side of the story is very
diff erent indeed.
Yes, Jaguar Land Rover (and particularly Land
Rover) has seen sales suff er in the last 12 months,
as have all manufacturers of luxury cars, and the
majority of car manufacturers full stop come to
that. Yes, JLR has admitted that the result of the
economic slowdown has exposed “fundamental
weaknesses in the structure of the business” and,
yes, it will close one of its West Midlands plants by
the middle of the next decade. But the essential part
of the story behind the new business plan is one of
expansion, not contraction.
While Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich or Land Rover’s
Solihull plant will close (and the process of deciding
which has yet to begin), the reason is that either
one of those plants – in conjunction
with Halewood, of course – is
said to be capable of handling
both marques’ production
lines. Clearly, if one West
Midlands plant can do
the job of two, it makes
little sense to keep both
open especially if, as JLR
has stated, there will be no
compulsory redundancies.