Jaguar Land Rover to restart some European output from mid-May

Automakers are beginning to set out plans to resume output as the continent tries to return to normal in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Output will also resume at JLR’s central English engine factory in Wolverhampton and at a plant in Austria where the electric I-Pace is built but no date has been set for the reopening of its British Halewood or Castle Bromwich locations.

“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 firm said in a statement.

“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.” In China, its joint-venture factory has been operating since the middle of February and the firm said it was seeing some positive signs in terms of demand.

“We are beginning to see recovery in vehicle sales and customers are returning to our showrooms,” it added.