It appears Honda is not the only automaker that has to deal with a supplier issue at a European plant as Jaguar Land Rover is experiencing the same problem. Citing “an issue related to Covid” at its Castle Bromwich factory, the Tata Motors-owned marque has temporarily halted assembly of the XE and XF sedans.
The Guardian reports production actually stopped last week and won’t be resumed until Christmas when JLR estimates it will regain access to the key components the sedans need. The silver lining is that the factory is still partially operational as the production of the F-Type sports car has not been affected by the lack of parts.
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Jaguar insists the production interruption for the XE and XF is not related to poor sales, but the coronavirus pandemic bundled with the never-ending Brexit ordeal certainly isn’t helping either. Much like the other UK plants, Castle Bromwich closed its doors during the first lockdown back in March, but it was among the last to resume operations, in August.
“Whilst we have strong customer demand, we have made changes to our production schedule in Castle Bromwich due to temporary supplier constraints. We are working with the supplier to resolve this and minimize impact on customer orders.”
According to a report from last month, the next-generation XJ fullsize luxury sedan is in danger even before its world premiere. The Sunday Times cites sources close to the matter who claim Jaguar CEO Thierry Bolloré is giving some serious thought about nixing the flagship EV altogether. The big cat is bound to be manufactured at the same Castle Bromwich plant, but its future seems uncertain at this moment.
Not only that, but the same report suggests up to six cars could get the proverbial axe, including the smaller XE and XF sedans as well as unreleased Jaguar and Land Rover SUVs that are supposedly using the same platform. One model that could help Jaguar turn fortunes around is the large J-Pace SUV, but since we don’t even have spy shots of prototypes, it’s probably going to be a long wait until it hits the market.