Jaguar-Land Rover has parts for 2 weeks\' output in UK

Coventry, England: Jaguar-Land Rover has enough parts from China to maintain its British production for the next two weeks, but not beyond that at the moment due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “We are safe for this week and for next week. In the third week we have parts missing,” said Ralf Speth, chief executive, JLR, on Tuesday. “We have flown parts in suitcases from China to the UK.” Britain’s biggest carmaker, which operates three car factories in its home market, joined major global companies such as Apple in warning of the impact of the virus on supply chains.

Speth said the firm’s Chinese factory would open next week and was “safe for the very first week.” Sales were not currently happening in China and it was unclear when they would return, he added. The chief of Tata Motors, JLR’s parent company, speaking at the same event, said the company does not have sufficient visibility regarding parts suppliers from China. “We are safe for February and for a good part of March,” said Guenter Butschek. “Are we fully covered at this point of time for the full month of March? Unfortunately... not.”