Luxury carmaker Jaguar, owned by India’s Tata Motors, announced Wednesday it would end production of its X-Type car by the end of the year with the loss of up to 300 jobs.
The news is a huge blow for its Halewood factory in Liverpool, which is also to close for three weeks in an extended shutdown starting in September as the global downturn hits the car industry hard.
Jaguar said it would be seeking voluntary redundancies at the factory, which employs about 2,000 workers.
David Smith, chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover said: “Our industry has been especially badly hit by the recession and the premium sector more than others.
“Jaguar Land Rover’s retail sales fell by 28 percent in the past 10 months. We have taken unprecedented actions to cut costs including reduced production volumes, significant cuts to investment plans and some 2,200 job losses.
“Ceasing production of the X-Type early, with further redundancies and temporary shutdowns at Halewood is necessary to protect our other investment plans,” added Smith.
Jaguar Land Rover said the Halewood plant would continue to produce Land Rover’s best-selling Freelander model.
Jaguar last week launched a new version of its flagship XJ model in a glitzy ceremony in London featuring supermodel Elle Macpherson.
