Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is halting production at its Solihull and Halewood factories until the spring due to persistent difficulties procuring sufficient computer chips for new vehicles.
It is anticipated that the action will impair the production of vehicles such as the Jaguar F-Pace and Land Rover Discovery Sport.
It is believed that the shift is temporary, as JLR concentrates on more profitable models such as the Range Rover.
The production of these automobiles has increased in recent months.
The JLR plant in Nitra, Slovakia, is unaffected.
Modern automobiles rely significantly on computer chips to handle a wide range of onboard systems, including anti-lock braking, pollution controls, satellite navigation, and in-car entertainment.
In the wake of the Covid epidemic, however, East Asian supplies have been severely interrupted, and automakers have faced tremendous competition for existing supplies from other industries.
JLR stated in a statement that it would “continue to aggressively manage the operational patterns of our production plants while the global semiconductor supply chain disruption continues.”
We anticipate that our performance will continue to improve in the second half of the year as new agreements with our semiconductor partners go into force, allowing us to produce and deliver more vehicles to our customers,” the statement continued.
Despite a rise in October, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports that car manufacturing in the United Kingdom is still significantly below the levels recorded before the pandemic.
The sector produced 69,524 automobiles in October, a 7.4% increase from the previous year, although the SMMT reported that component suppliers continue to be “unstable” for manufacturers.
Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the SMMT, stated on the BBC’s Today program, “There have been serious shortages in the supply chain, most notably in semiconductors, which is causing extremely irregular output levels.”
“[Production] increased in October, but we expect it to fluctuate in the future, particularly when components from China arrive.”
Mr. Hawes stated that the United Kingdom was “nowhere near” producing enough chips for the auto industry.
“Massive investments are necessary, and several governments around the globe are contributing billions upon billions of pounds to entice investment and construct new fabs” (semiconductor fabrication plants).
“We should be generating approximately one million automobiles every year, so when you consider that each car requires approximately 1,500 chips, you can see the staggering quantities of chips required to support the automotive industry, let alone consumer devices.”
