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Jaguar Land Rover cutting production in face of falling demand

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover will reduce or stop production on certain days at two of its British factories over the next few weeks as Britain's biggest carmaker pursues cost-cutting measures in response to falling demand. JLR posted a 2.3% drop in retail sales in the three months to the end of December and has targeted billions of pounds worth of savings to tackle falling diesel demand in Europe and a tough sales environment in China. The firm will halt production on selected days over a four-week period from late February at its Castle Bromwich factory in central England and stop production on some half or full days at its nearby Solihull facility until the end of March. "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," the company said in a statement. "We have confirmed that Solihull and Castle Bromwich will make some minor changes to their production schedules to reflect fluctuating demand globally, whilst still meeting customer needs." The move is not connected to coronavirus, a spokeswoman said, which prompted Fiat Chrysler to warn on Thursday that a European plant could shut down within two to four weeks if Chinese parts suppliers cannot get back to work. Related Video:

Jaguar XJ could move to all-electric platform late this year

The Jaguar XJ is getting a little long in the tooth. The current generation of Jaguar's flagship sedan debuted back in 2009, making it one of the oldest vehicles still on the market. This week, Autocar reported that a new XJ could debut late this year and would move to an all-electric platform. That would place the XJ straight against cars like the Tesla Model S and upcoming Porsche Mission E, presumably sharing parts with the upcoming I-Pace electric crossover. While a couple of refreshes have kept the Jaguar competitive, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series and Audi A8 have gone through full redesigns since the XJ debuted. (Two for the Audi). Compared to the Germans, the Jaguar looks and feels dated, especially when it comes to technology, active safety and alternative powertrains. In the U.S., the XJ is only available with either a supercharged gasoline V6 or V8. The competition from Germany, Japan and the U.S. all offer some form of electrification. Moving to an all-electric powertrain would be a huge shift for Jaguar and is sure to spark some debate among enthusiasts. The British automaker has previously stated it plans to electrify all new vehicles after 2020. Look for electrified variants of current models to be available, too. The new XJ is rumored to be co-developed with a new model called the Road Rover, a sort of high-riding sedan or wagon in the vein of the Audi allroad or Volvo V90 Cross Country. Like the XJ, the Road Rover would use a battery electric powertrain. Look for more news on both models later this year. Related Video:

The Jaguar E-Pace shows off a rather cab-forward look in these spy shots

It seems the Jaguar F-Pace may be getting a little sibling soon. A smaller crossover, which we expect will be called the E-Pace, has been caught during winter testing. The SUV seen here appears to be sized like compact luxury crossovers such as the Audi Q3 and BMW X1. This also fits with Jaguar's brand director's statements that it has been considering an SUV for this class. Much of the car is well camouflaged, but taking a close look, this E-Pace has a surprisingly short dash-to-axle ratio. It's not as drastic as the electric I-Pace concept, but there's so little space between the bumper and the base of the windshield that we sincerely doubt that a longitudinal inline-4 or V6 could be lurking under the hood. And, if the E-Pace does in fact use a transverse-mounted engine, it probably doesn't share a platform with any of its rear-drive-based stablemates. It may seem strange that a company known for its rear-drive cars is considering a transverse, front-drive-based vehicle, but there are reasons it may be going this way. For one thing, Jaguar's brand director said he wasn't sure that the company's existing platforms could be scaled down far enough for such a compact crossover. That would seem to preclude using an existing rear-drive platform or developing a totally new one. In fact, it only leaves one real option in the Jaguar Land Rover line for this vehicle: the Range Rover Evoque platform, which is also shared with the Discovery Sport. It's a small SUV platform with a transverse layout. It's also currently available and should be cheap to adapt; perfect for capitalizing on the hot crossover market. We just hope Jaguar can inject some more fun into it than Land Rover did with the Discovery Sport. Using that platform also means Jaguar would probably borrow one or more engines from the Evoque and Discovery Sport. In the US, both models are only offered with a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 making 240 horsepower. Overseas, both vehicles are available with 2.0-liter turbodiesel four-cylinders, making either 150 or 180 horsepower too. Considering that the 180-horsepower diesel model will arrive in the US under the hood of the Jaguar XE, it's possible that it will show up in the E-Pace as well. Don't expect any of the overseas manual transmissions to make the trip, though. Jaguar only offers a manual on the F-Type sports car in the US, so there really isn't any reason to add one to a small crossover.