Jaguar’s Chief Executive Officer has said that Britain’s uncertain future will ensure factories across the UK will be forced to close for one week in November.
The company’s CEO Ralf Speth was speaking at the opening of a £500m engineering and design centre in Warwickshire and after the company already brought forward planned closures to mitigate an anticipated Brexit in March, the company has no option to close again according to Speth.
“We cannot think about it, we just have to do it.
“We have to close – think about the process. We can’t switch it on and off, I need 10 million to 20 million parts a day and that means I have to make a commitment to my suppliers.
“I have to have every part available and I have to have it just in time. If I don’t have a part, I don’t produce a car.
“It’s the same as we did in April, We have to stop producing cars for that logistical protection.”
With a hard or non-negotiated Brexit bringing unknown issues at ports across Europe, Jaguar are anticipating border delays which will slow down delivery of parts and halt production processes.
Jaguar are not the only company to announce factory closures as part of the precautions. Both BMW and Toyota have made changes to their working shifts in November ahead of the planned Brexit date of October 31st.