Currently reading: Jaguar Land Rover warns of global coronavirus impact

Firm expects worldwide production volumes to drop following the outbreak of the illness in China

Jaguar Land Rover expects the global coronavirus outbreak to affect its fourth-quarter financial performance and says its supply chains outside China are now likely to be affected.

The British company – which operates factories in Slovakia and India alongside its sizeable Chinese operation – told Bloomberg it's too early to accurately predict the financial impact of the virus but it's expecting component supply shortages to affect global vehicle production volumes. 

The news comes as the firm gears up to put the new Land Rover Defender into full-scale production at its factory in Nitra, Slovakia, which employs 2800 workers and has an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. 

The announcement follows a wave of factory shutdowns in Asia following the outbreak of the coronavirus in China’s Wuhan province.

The PSA Group’s Chinese partner Dongfeng was first to close its main production facility, while Hyundai was forced to shut its South Korean factories last week due to a shortage of critical wiring harnesses produced in China.

Bloomberg reports that JLR parent company Tata has extended a shutdown at the Chery Jaguar Land Rover factory in Changsu, which builds the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Jaguar E-Pace for the Chinese market. China-only long-wheelbase versions of Jaguar's Jaguar XE and Jaguar XF saloons are also built at the plant. 

Nissan is the latest manufacturer to react to the coronavirus outbreak, temporarily closing one of its Japanese factories that depends heavily on parts imported from China. It expects the facility to be operational again within two days, however, and has stated that its other factories in Japan are unaffected. 

Many Chinese factories that had shut down were expected to reopen yesterday (10 February) as the officially extended Chinese New Year break came to an end, but many remain restricted by local legislation and a labour shortage. 

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Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: Deputy editor

Felix is Autocar's deputy editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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Aidan 11 February 2020

JLR should seriously consider

JLR should seriously consider producing more parts in the UK rather than rely on cheap imports from China , escalating trade wars between the US & China could increase tariffs further & affect availability , surely there must be a way to mass produce more parts in this country efficiently by combining resources in one giant factory which could immediately adapt to local demand instead of waiting weeks for the orders to be shipped from China , they could also supply components to other manufacturers to increase the economies of scale & at the same time reduce the balance of payments deficit. 

Pietro Cavolonero 11 February 2020

The electronics industry..

is so tied up in Asian manufacturing that it would be almost impossible to move to "western" suppliers. We rely on SE Asian semiconductor plants to power our satnav, DAB radio, control modules etc, we sit here building metal frames to house all those components that could quite easily fall into short supply
lambo58 11 February 2020

Cheap imports from China?

Cheap imports from China?
Are you serious?
They make components every bit as well as any other so called first world countries if not better.
Case in point.
Most apple products are made there.
Its us Brits who now make a lot of tat.
You need to get around more.
Sulphur Man 11 February 2020

excuses...

More like JLR making excuses, looking for more state aid.... sorry...... Government 'loan',  before next bond payment due 14 Mar 2020.

 

TStag 11 February 2020

Sulphur Man wrote:

Sulphur Man wrote:

More like JLR making excuses, looking for more state aid.... sorry...... Government 'loan',  before next bond payment due 14 Mar 2020.

 

Oh so Mercedes, Audi and Nissan aren’t saying the same thing then? Thought they were, guess they will all ask for state aid, unlike JLR which hasn’t.

Could you be more anti JLR?

Sulphur Man 11 February 2020

Not anti-JLR. Anti tax payer

Not anti-JLR. Anti tax payer money used to prop up privately owned business.

JLR is a subsidiary of TATA Motors - 2019 operating revenue USD$42.9billion.

Please explain why our government provides secured loans of £500m to 'help develop electric cars'.

Same with Flybe - joint-owned by two billionaires, bailed out last month with a tax break amounting to £100m state aid.

Private business, bailed out by public money, yours and mine. I simply do not get it.

Rival 11 February 2020

Ignorant or short sighted ?

Simply put if the government don’t help companies, provide subsidies and tax brakes then these companies will take their work elsewhere, resulting in massive job losses for uk workers, all of whom would then have less spending power and pay less tax.

Is it really they difficult ?

Pietro Cavolonero 11 February 2020

It's never that simple..

Wealthy individuals holding the government to ransom by threatening to sack the voters whilst maintaining their luxury lifestyles. Too many companies are owned by corporate investors who don't give a flying fcuk about the impact that their actions have on society.

Maybe we need to introduce tax breaks for philanthropist businessmen (and woman) who build communities in the way Leverhulme, Cadbury, Rowntree & Herbert Austin did. We've surrendered social welfare to the state and removed incentives to keep ideas and talent in the UK

jonboy4969 11 February 2020

Sorry but are you a total

Sorry but are you a total moron, people are dying over this thing and they, along with EVERY OTHER manufacture are struggling in that area, VW closed ALL, thats ALL of its plants in China, and are only now considering reopening a few of them, the Chinese are NOT going to work, they are refusing to leave their homes and you stupidly moan on about JLR and state aid, what relevance is that, absolutely none, they will repay the loan, no issues, so what is it, you just join the throng that likes to put the boot in, but you would rather put drivel, when people are dying, and others are seriously ill - thats shows how pathetic you are.

AND NO, its not because i like JLR - its because i am sick of people being ****** and posting tripe like this when there are far more serious things to worry about - I hope he does not get it, or anyone in his family - but if they do, let me know, and i might come back and take the **** out of them