London, Apr 23 (PTI) Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Thursday announced plans to resume production at some of its factories, including Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region of England, from May 18.

The UK's largest car manufacturer is on a temporary production pause since last month as the coronavirus pandemic lockdown measures came into force and had said it would work on an “orderly return” for its plants.

Production is set to kick-start at its Solihull plant in Britain alongside Nitra in Slovakia and Graz in Austria. Its engine manufacturing plant at Wolverhampton is also likely to be in the first tranche of openings.

“Jaguar Land Rover plans to gradually resume production from 18th May, starting with manufacturing plants in Solihull in the UK as well as in Slovakia and Austria,” a JLR statement said.

“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 statement said.

The company said it is beginning to see recovery in vehicle sales as customers return to its showrooms in China, where the JLR joint venture plant in Changshu has been in operation since the middle of February.

Earlier this week, it emerged that the iconic luxury carmaker, which employs 40,000 people globally, had decided to furlough, or send on forced leave, around half of its staff in line with the UK government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

JLR said that around 20,000 staff in roles that are not critical during the “temporary period of disruption” have been furloughed, although their wages are protected in full in April.

“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,” the JLR statement said.

It added: “We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation and follow the guidance of all relevant authorities in the markets in which we operate. Jaguar Land Rover is doing whatever it can to support its communities through the current situation.

"The company's thoughts are with those directly affected by Covid-19 and with the healthcare professionals, whose role in combating this virus is appreciated by all.”

The models set for resumption by next month include Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, Land Rover Defender, Land Rover Discovery, Jaguar F-Pace, E-Pace and I-Pace.

In its latest financial results this month, JLR reported a 42 per cent fall in sales of Jaguar models between January and March, while sales of Range Rovers and Land Rovers declined 25 per cent. The company's total 2019-20 sales were down 12 per cent at 508,659 vehicles, primarily as a result of the coronavirus pandemic significantly impacting sales in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)