Jaguar to survive despite production changes in UK – Executive | Daily News Byte

Three new electric ‘performance’ models are still planned to lead Jaguar’s next generation – despite a change in production plans for the British brand from early next year.

According to The Guardian In the UK, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is planning to shift one of two factories to lines that build the Jaguar F-Pace and Range Rover Velar – plus reduce production of the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

Meanwhile, The Guardian And Bloomberg Claim production of high-profit models – such as the full-size Range Rover – will increase.

But Jaguar Land Rover officials said Drive This move to streamline the company’s manufacturing operations in 2023 has been misinterpreted as a trigger for long-term changes and job losses.

It has also cast doubt on the future of Jaguar, which has seen a sharp slowdown in demand for its traditional luxury passenger cars, putting its SUVs in direct competition with its stablemates Land Rover and Range Rover.

Jaguar Land Rover is adamant Jaguar still has a future and the production overhaul will allow it to focus on popular models across its brands that have built up a global waiting list of more than 200,000 vehicles.

“There has been no change in the direction of the business,” said Nick Connolly, Jaguar Land Rover’s global external corporate communications manager. Drive From the UK

“Things are looking up. We are starting to see some positives.

“We’ve definitely seen some green shoots in terms of semiconductors.”

Mr Connolly said Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had been battling production difficulties for more than two years, largely due to a shortage of semiconductors, and had developed a new production plan as a way to recover from the difficulties.

It struggled due to the amount of technology in its latest vehicles and its heavy reliance on the microchips required to manufacture them.

Jaguar executives also stressed that the recent departure of Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollor after two years – who was the driving force behind the company’s switch to electric power – would have no impact on the business.

The cornerstones of Mr Bollor’s plans include transforming Jaguar into an all-electric brand from 2025 to ‘realise its unique potential’, and phasing out diesel and rolling out electric power in Land Rovers over the next 14 years.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has defended its latest production move and insisted it is not cutting numbers. Instead, it’s about managing the allocation of parts — including semiconductors — to maximize its build rate on high-demand vehicles.

However, its sales globally and in Australia have declined in recent years. Its word-wide result peaked at 614,000 in 2018 but fell to 439,000 in 2021, while the Australian total was 3008 in 2016 but has fallen steadily since then – even before Covid hit – with another 41.9 per cent drop in the first ten months to just a total by the end of October. Year for 665 car.

“While the industry experiences ongoing global semiconductor supply chain disruptions, we continue to proactively manage the operational patterns of our manufacturing plants. Demand for our vehicles is strong,” JLR said in an official brand statement.

“We expect our performance to continue to improve in the second half of the year, as new contracts with semiconductor partners come into effect, enabling us to build and deliver more vehicles to our customers.”

Mr Connell confirmed that the electrification plan at Jaguar still includes an all-new mechanical architecture to underpin all three future models – but the executive would not provide any other details.

“There are three brand new, all-electric performance vehicles,” he said.

“The current nameplates will be the last iteration of what we call the current Jaguar.”

“People still want our vehicles and we still want to build them for them.”