Car production is to end at Jaguar's Brown's Lane factory in Coventry with the loss of 1,100 jobs, the company announced on Friday. The assembly of Jaguar models, which in the past has included this gorgeous D-Type, will transfer to the nearby Castle Bromwich plant, with 400 voluntary redundancies.
Many of Brown's Lane's 2,500 workers will move to Castle Bromwich but 310 staff will remain in Coventry to make wood finishes for Jaguar models. Union leaders were told the news at a meeting at 11 o’clock on Friday by senior Ford and Jaguar executives.
Jaguar cars are made at three sites in the UK and all have been producing at less than capacity, said Jaguar. The other two plants are at Castle Bromwich, in the West Midlands, and Halewood on Merseyside.
Ford also said Jaguar would pull out of Formula One at the end of the season, and that it would sell Cosworth -- the impact on the Jordan and Minardi F1 teams who use Cosworth engines has yet to become clear, especially after Minardi recently announced a deal to continue use of Cosworth V10s for the 2005 season.
About 750 jobs will be lost as a whole across the Jaguar Group, Ford said, although it did announce plans for new models (see below).
Jaguar has seen demand for its models fall in the US and the cuts at Browns Lane is part of a resulting cost cutting drive. "This plan is essential to Jaguar's future and will enable us to contribute more positively to Ford's bottom line,'' said Jaguar chairman Joe Greenwell.
The Jaguar cuts will generate $120m (£67m) in annual savings, he said. The Jaguar Formula One racing team, which began in 2000 and never won a race, will be put up for sale at the end of the current season.
Trade unions led by Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport & General Workers' Union, and Derek Simpson, leader of Amicus, say the company promised in 1998 that Browns Lane would remain open and that Ford targets for improving quality and efficiency had been met. The three Jaguar factories are among the most efficient of any Ford factory in the world, the union said.
"We have a job security agreement for that plant that was ratified in good faith, and we expect it to be honoured,'' said Woodley yesterday. He said unions "would fight" to save the plant and may strike at other Ford factories in the UK.
Ford recently considered closing its Land Rover plant in Solihull, Birmingham, but reached an agreement with unions on a plan to make it more competitive and in the process safeguarded 8,000 jobs.
Jaguar's product plans for rebuilding he company include:
- New all-aluminium XK sports car
Confirmation of a new XK sports car codenamed X150 that will go on sale in early 2006. This will be an all-aluminium car and will be the first production car to feature Jaguar’s new design language, developed by Design Director Ian Callum.
- XJ range significantly strengthened
The XJ range will be extended and strengthened by introducing a premium diesel engine next year to respond to growth in luxury diesel saloons in Europe and further enhance the customer appeal of a car which is already segment leader in the UK. The new long wheelbase version of the XJ, which is targeted at the US market, has received very strong reviews having just gone on sale.
- New high performance X-TYPE diesel
The market appeal of the X-TYPE compact luxury car will be extended by adding a high performance diesel version to the existing range of diesel and petrol-engined variants next year.
- X-TYPE Estate to be launched in the US
X-TYPE Estate (Station Wagon) will be launched in the United States to broaden the X-TYPE range in this key market.
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