Currently reading: Jaguar X-Type axed
Need to cut costs results in early end for X-Type

Jaguar X-Type production will finish at the end of the year.

The Jaguar X-Type is made at the Halewood Plant on Merseyside, and Jaguar is ceasing production early to cut costs.

See the Jaguar X-Type image gallery here

Blog: The late Jag X-Type - it’s about time

Twitter - follow autocar.co.uk

The X-Type had been scheduled to be built until at least mid-2010. Jaguar has sold more than 350,000 X-Types in eight years.

As a result of the axeing of the X-Type, 300 jobs will be cut at Halewood. A spokesman emphasised that the job losses would all be through voluntary redundancy only.

In addition to the job cuts, the plant is expected to be shut down for an additional three weeks, starting in September, due to poor sales.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO David Smith said, "Our industry has been especially badly hit by the recession, and the premium sector more than others. Jaguar Land Rover's retail sales have fallen by 28 per cent in the past 10 months.

"We have taken unprecedented actions to cut costs, including reduced production volumes, significant cuts to investment plans and some 2200 job losses. Ceasing production of the X-Type early, with further redundancies and temporary shutdowns at Halewood, is necessary to protect our other investment plans.

"Further actions will be determined by the state of the market and the speed with which the already-approved 340 million euro (£291m) European Investment Bank loan can be drawn."

Jaguar has been in talks with the British government regarding providing a guarantee for the EIB bank loan since January.

Part of that loan, plus a £27 million UK government loan, has been ear-marked for development of the new LRX concept-derived green Range Rover at Halewood.

Land Rover has said it will decide whether to build the car in the final quarter of this year, but there are concerns that the delays in approving the loan guarantees could hinder the project.

See all the latest Jaguar reviews, news and video

Add a comment…