LONDON – Jaguar Land Rover said Wednesday it will cease production of its X-Type car by the end of the year, eliminating 300 jobs at its Halewood plant near Liverpool, England.
The company said it also intends to shut down the plant for another three weeks this year because of the weakness of the luxury car market.
"Jaguar Land Rover's retail sales fell by 28 percent in the past 10 months," said Jaguar Land Rover CEO David Smith.
"We have taken unprecedented actions to cut costs, including reduced production volumes, significant cuts to investment plans and some 2,200 job losses.
"Ceasing production of the X-Type early, with further redundancies and temporary shutdowns at Halewood, is necessary to protect our other investment plans."
The entry-level X-Type sedan was introduced by then Ford-owned Jaguar in 2001 to attract younger buyers. Although a top-seller for the brand, small profit margins led to it being a financial dissapointment, losing the company millions of dollars over its lifetime.
The X-Type was pulled from the US market after the 2008 model year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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