The move comes following the decision several weeks ago to invest £100 million into shifting production of the company’s XE model to Solihull’s sister plant in Castle Bromwich.
Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, one worker from the Manpower agency, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We had no idea this was coming. We knew the company was behind on certain models, like the Discovery, and that the XE was going to Castle Bromwich but we assumed we’d get moved across to another part.
“So it was a surprise when JLR just said ‘No, that’s it’.”
In a statement, JLR said that the move signalled the end of “a very busy launch phase for the [Solihull] plant and a return to normalised production volumes.” The factory will remain on its current three-shift, 24-hour pattern, with “no foreseeable plan to change that,” the company added.
The XE was the first Jaguar to be built at Solihull, which has previously only been home to Land Rover models. It has since been joined by the F-Pace, which earlier this year became the fastest-selling Jaguar model in history.
Read how JLR's Solihull plant has trebled its volumes in this month's Works Management cover story.
