The global semiconductor crisis has claimed another UK victim, with news that Jaguar Land Rover announcing today that they are temporarily closing their Halewood and Castle Bromwich facilities.
The shortage of key motoring component has been brought on by the pandemic lockdown, with many motoring brands closing their factories in 2020, the semiconductor producers switched to supplying the technology sector due to a rise in home computing and tablets. Semiconductors are almost universally used in car production to help with the onboard computer and infotainment systems.
Nissan have furloughed much of their workforce in the north east of England, while this week Peugeot took the drastic step of applying an old-style speedometer to some of their models.
And now JLR are the latest victim, announcing a ‘limited period of non-production’ from Monday 26 April.
"Like other automotive manufacturers, we're currently experiencing some Covid-19 [related] supply-chain disruption, including the global availability of semiconductors, which is having an impact on our production schedules and our ability to meet global demand for some of our vehicles,” a JLR spokesman said in Autocar.
"As a result, we've adjusted production schedules for certain vehicles, which means that our Castle Bromwich and Halewood manufacturing plants will be operating a limited period of non-production from Monday 26 April. Manufacturing continues at our Solihull plant.
"We're working closely with affected suppliers to resolve the issues and minimise the impact on customer orders wherever possible.”
The closure will affect the Jaguar XE, XF and F-Type built at the Castle Bromwich plant, while the Land Rover Discovery and Range Rover Evoque will be hit at the Halewood factory.