Jaguar Land Rover will halt production for a week in April due to potential disruption from Brexit.

The shutdown between 8-12 April will affect all three of Jaguar Land Rover's UK car plants, as well as its engine plant. It will be the second closure in six months for the carmaker.

JLR closed its main plant in Solihull for two weeks last October to reflect "fluctuating demand", after sales to China were hit by the country's burgeoning trade war with the US.

Jaguar Land Rover employs just under 39,000 workers at sites including Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, and Halewood on Merseyside.

The closure plan follows an announcement earlier this month that JLR is to cut 4,500 jobs in a bid to cut costs of up to £2.5bn.


Image: The company employs 44,000 in the UK

The company, which employs 44,000 in the UK and cut 1,000 temporary workers at its plant in Solihull last year, has been hit by poor sales in China and a drop in demand for diesel cars.

It posted a £90m loss in October and said that the next stage of its "transformation programme" would begin with a voluntary redundancy programme in the UK.

Last July the company warned that its UK plants and at least 40,000 jobs are at risk if the country leaves the European Union without a free trade deal.

It has told the government that, while its "heart and soul" are in the UK, a bad Brexit could force a re-think.

It said a "no-deal" scenario would force it to relocate from the UK because of an expected £1.2bn surge in tariff costs.

JLR exports 80% of its cars worth £18bn annually.