Jaguar Land Rover has asked for a support package worth in excess of £1 billion ($1.2 billion) from the British government.
The car manufacturer has felt the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and is engaged in talks with the Department for Business, Energy and Industry strategy for the loan.
In a statement issued to The Guardian, JLR said it was “in regular discussion with government on a whole range of matters and the content of our private discussions remains confidential.” However, the automaker banished claims that it is seeking upwards of £2 billion ($2.4 billion).
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Jaguar Land Rover has said that its retail sales for the quarter ending March 31 fell by more than 30 per cent to 110,000 vehicles. Industry analyst Tim Lawrence says returning demand in China has encouraged the company to resume production.
“Most carmakers are burning through large amounts of cash every day, primarily because of the cost of maintaining and running their operations, despite furloughing a lot of people,” Lawrence said. “Demand in China is what’s encouraging JLR to restart production but they have to look at this in terms of the next one to two years, and models show demand is not going to come back to pre-pandemic levels.”
JLR’s Solihull factory reopened on Monday last week on a single shift with 2,000 employees. Its Castle Bromwich site has also partially reopened but its Halewood site remains closed. The car manufacturer employs approximately 38,000 people in the UK and about 18,000 of them have been furloughed.
