Britain’s most significant automaker Jaguar Land Rover will momentarily lower production at its northern English automobile plant in Halewood later on this year in action to damaging demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover’s sales in Britain and Europe were flat in last year and it anticipates tough conditions to continue, the company’s sales director stated previously this month.
The Halewood plant, which constructs Range Rover models, is among Indian-owned automaker’s three production sites in Britain, which together construct almost one in three of the country’s approximately 1.7 million vehicles.
“Continuous uncertainty surrounding Brexit is being felt by consumers at home and in Europe,” the company stated on Monday.
“Issue around the future of fuel and diesel motor– and general international economic and political uncertainty– and it’s clear to see why the market is seeing an impact on car sales.”
“Following a review of prepared volumes, we are preparing to make some temporary modifications to the production schedule at Halewood in Q2.”
Britain will increase the quantity of vehicle excise duty paid by nearly everybody buying a new diesel car from April, which will likely hit Jaguar Land Rover, for whom diesel represent around 90 percent of sales.
British new car registrations in 2017 across the sector recorded their most significant drop since 2009, with an industry body blaming the diesel levy and weakening customer confidence in the wake of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union.