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Car giant Jaguar Land Rover is to halt production on some days due to the challenges in the global car market, BirminghamLive can reveal.

This will mean production will entirely stop for either full or half days in the latest blow to hit JLR.

The Solihull and Castle Bromwich factories will be altering their schedules, which includes ceasing production on some half days and full days the automotive giant said.

The Solihull plant will see some production suspended, depending on the area of the business, between now and end March.

Meanwhile the Castle Bromwich plant will also be halting production on some half and full days from the end of this month until the end of March.

It is believed staff were briefed about the changes this afternoon(Feb 6).

For the 2019 calendar year, JLR retail sales were 557,706, down 5.9% compared to 2018.

A spokeswoman from JLR said: “Through its ongoing transformation programme, Jaguar Land Rover is taking action to optimise performance, enable sustainable growth and safeguard the long-term success of our business.

“The external environment remains challenging for our industry and the company is taking decisive actions to achieve the necessary operational efficiencies to safeguard long-term success.

“We have confirmed that our Solihull and Castle Bromwich plants will make some minor changes to their production schedules to reflect fluctuating demand globally, whilst still meeting customer needs.

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“Jaguar Land Rover is continuing to invest heavily in its UK manufacturing operations with significant investment recently committed to Castle Bromwich for production of the new all electric Jaguar XJ and Solihull which will build the next generation of Range Rover.”

The spokeswoman added: “We will be suspending production on some days or half days during that time.”

The Unite union had no comment to make at this point.

JLR, owned by Tata Motors, is facing several challenges, including a slump in demand for diesel cars, a slowdown in sales in China and uncertainty caused by Brexit.

Over the past decade, Jaguar Land Rover has expanded by growing its model range and driving into new markets, with new production plants in China, Slovakia and Brazil.

However, falling demand for diesel vehicles and sluggish demand in China saw the company announce a £2.5 billion cost-cutting programme, leading to thousands of job losses.

* Jaguar Land Rover last month reported buoyant global sales for December 2019 - though sales for the final quarter of the year were down.

The Coventry car maker sold 52,814 vehicles last December - a rise of 1.3% compared to December 2018. </p> <p>The rise was down to a sales boost in China, though sales in most other markets were down.</p> <p>Sales for October, November and December 2019 were 141,222 - a fall of 2.3% year-on-year,</p> <p>The rise in sales in China were hailed as a welcome boost for JLR and it represented the sixth consecutive month of growth in a country which at one point became Jaguar Land Rover’s biggest market.</p> <p>Since then sales have been sliding though, with the slowdown in the Chinese market named as one of the company’s biggest challenges - along with declining demand for diesels and uncertainty over Brexit.</p> <p>December 2019 sales in China rose by 26,3% year-on-year, offsetting lower sales in North America (-1.1%), the UK (-2.9%), Europe (-5.3%) and in overseas markets (-7.6%).</p> <p>For the 2019 calendar year, JLR retail sales were 557,706, down 5.9% compared to 2018.</p> <p /> <p /> <p />