The coronavirus outbreak in China has seen the closure of Jaguar Land Rover’s Chinese factory in Changshu.
The car maker said the closure of the factory, a joint venture (JV) with Chinese car maker Chery, had been implemented in accordance with local government guidelines.
The factory is around 800km from Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.
A Jaguar Land Rover spokesman said: “At Jaguar Land Rover, the health of our employees is important to us and we continue to monitor the coronavirus situation in China.
“We are following Foreign Office guidelines regarding travel from the UK to China.
“In China, we are following the local government’s advice and have closed our operations as recommended.”
The factory in Changshu opened in 2014 and produces a range of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.
As of February 2019, output included two specifically created for the Chinese market, in the shape of ‘stretched’ versions of the Jaguar XE and Jaguar XF.
The Jaguar XEL and Jaguar XFL were also produced alongside the Jaguar E-Pace, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque.
There is also an engine plant manufacturing Ingenium four-cylinder petrol engines for Chinese customers.
When it opened the plant created 2,000 new jobs as part of a 10.9billion yuan (£1.1billion) investment.
Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover, described it as “an important milestone” for the company.
Jaguar Land Rover recently posted a rosy set of results for the final quarter of 2019 but at the same time said the coronavirus outbreak would impact on its end of year results for the 2019/20 financial year.
In its results statement it said: “Despite the many challenges presently facing the industry, Jaguar Land Rover has continued to expect improved profitability and cashflow for the financial year ending 31 March 2020 with an EBIT margin of around 3%, however, the developing situation with the coronavirus could have some impact on this.”
The coronavirus also sparked a warning from PB Balaji, group chief financial officer at Tata Motors.
He said: “As we look forward, a few things worry me in our horizon - the big one being the coronavirus in China that is now developing at this point in time.
“We’ll have to watch that very closely.”
Speaking about the last quarterly results, recently announced production shutdowns at UK factories and the coronavirus threat, automotive expert Dr Charles Tennant said: “Although JLR reported a profit due to savage cost cutting for the October to December quarter their sales were still down by 2.3% and these plant shutdowns are a result of lower than planned sales and the announcement of a further round of cost cutting.
“This is not directly connected to the coronavirus in China but without doubt that will engulf them soon, as they have also been forced to shut down the 50:50 Chinese joint venture factory they run with Chery Automobile Co in Changshu, which is 800km from Wuhan the epicentre of the outbreak."
Mr Tennant added: “But also worryingly their UK factories export 20% of their production to China and a slowdown in sales will affect them further just as their Chinese sales were recovering.
“Fiat is already saying it will be shutting a European plant within four weeks if Chinese parts suppliers cannot get back to work soon.”
