Britain’s biggest automaker, Jaguar Land Rover, will stop production at its British factories for a week in November, its boss stated, joining BMW and Toyota in plans to help reduce any immediate disruption from a no-deal Brexit.
The industry, Britain’s biggest exporter of goods, has frequently expressed its concerns that a disorderly departure from the European Union could disrupt the flow of parts and vehicles, ruining production processes and ruining the viability of factories.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to take Britain out of the EU, with or without an exit deal, on October 31. However, it is not clear whether that will actually happen or if there will be delay in Brexit, put back to a referendum or even cancelled.
Chief Executive Ralf Speth stated that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)had to make strategies now, including a stop to production at its four British factories in the first week of November.
“We cannot think about it, we just have to do it,” he informed reporters at an event in Gaydon, central England, to commemorate the opening of a new advanced product creation center.
“I need 20 million parts a day and that means I have to make commitments to my providers, I have to have every and each part available and I have to have it just in time,” he stated.
The move will impact the company’s three car factories, that construct just under a third of Britain’s 1.5 million cars in 2018, and its engine facility located in Wolverhampton.
