JLR to reopen plants

JLR has said that from May 18, manufacturing will resume in Solihull, West Midlands, and at its engine plant in Wolverhampton.

The company halted all production last month, furloughing around half its workforce. Around a quarter of the Solihull workforce will return next month.

A company statement said: “In China, we are beginning to see recovery in vehicle sales and customers are returning to our showrooms. Our joint venture plant in Changshu has been in operation since the middle of February.

“As countries are relaxing distancing guidelines and retailers are reopening around the world, the restart of production at our other plants will be confirmed in due course.

“The health and wellbeing of our employees is our first priority. We are developing robust protocol and guidelines to support a safe return to work. We will adopt strict social distancing measures across our business and are currently evaluating a number of different measures to ensure we protect and reassure our workforce when they begin to return to work.

“We continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation and follow the guidance of all relevant authorities in the markets in which we operate.”