INDIA’S Tata Motors said today it is to consolidate two Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) auto plants in central England by 2014.
A spokesman for the company said there would be no compulsory redundancies, and it is in talks about a significant new model development programme which could create new jobs.
“They are going to consolidate two West Midlands factories into one over the next five years but they are also planning to increase employment at another plant,” he said.
Last month, Tata said it no longer needed UK guarantees on loans for its JLR unit as it had secured private funding and was close to finding a commercial backer for a European Investment Bank (EIB) loan.
In another report, Jaguar Land Rover said today that it will close one of its factories in the West Midlands but has pledged to create 800 new jobs on Merseyside.
The axe will fall on either the Land Rover factory in Solihull which employs 5,000 workers or Jaguar’s base at Castle Bromwich, housing 2,000 staff.
The company will enter negotiations with unions over which facility is likely to close but no action is expected to be taken until 2014.
Jaguar’s factory at Halewood in Liverpool, which employs 2,000 people, is expected to be the beneficiary as it will build the new LRX, which has been dubbed the baby Land Rover.
Jaguar employs 15,000 people in the UK but has made 1,750 redundant in the past year as sales have declined. The company said that the recession had led to a 60 per cent surplus in manufacturing capacity and that it needed to restructure its business to remain competitive.
Jaguar was bought by Tata Motors, part of India’s Tata conglomerate, last year for £1.7bn ($2.75bn).
