Other major car makers including Porsche and BMW have also been affected by an aluminium shortage caused by the flooding of a supplier’s factory.
Jaguar Land Rover has become the latest luxury car maker to face problems because of flooding in Switzerland which wiped out a key aluminium supplier’s factory. Aluminium alloys are used for car body parts and car panelling purposes.
Other companies such as Porsche and BMW have also faced disruptions. However, Mercedes-Benz earlier said the the aluminium shortage because of these floods would not have an impact on its production, as its supplier base is already signficantly diverse.
The aluminium supplier in this case is Novelis, an independent subsidiary of Hindalco, a global copper and aluminium producer, owned by India-based Aditya Birla Group.
At the end of June, Novelis was compelled to stop production at its aluminium mill in Sierre, Switzerland, after heavy rainfall caused the mill to flood. The company declared “force majeure”, which happens when a contract party is unable to fufil its obligations because of circumstances beyond its control.
Jaguar Land Rover has been forced to look for other suppliers, the usual manufacturing plant closings in summer have made the situation worse.
A spokesperson from Jaguar Land Rover was reported by The Telegraph as saying: “Our priority is to minimise any impact on our production and in turn client orders. So we are working with Novelis to assess the impact on JLR and understand their recovery plans.
“We have had good conversations with other suppliers, including within our own group, Tata, to source aluminium from elsewhere.”
The clean-up work following the flooding in aluminium production facilities is reportedly still ongoing, with manufacturers having to wait for flood waters to retreat before being able to clear away mud layers. As a result, it is still unclear how long these suppliers may be out of production.
Porsche recently adjusted its financial outlook for the full year 2024, saying: “Despite immediate countermeasures, it is becoming apparent that the impending supply shortage will lead to impairments in production that will not be fully compensated for over the course of the year.”
Jaguar Land Rover reports its best first quarter revenue ever
Jaguar Land Rover recently reported its first quarter financial year 2025 revenues, seeing the best Q1 revenue on record so far, coming up to £7.3bn (€8.59bn), an increase of 5% year-on-year.
The company’s profit before tax and exceptional items came up to £693m, a climb of 59% year-on-year.
Jaguar Land Rover’s CEO Adrian Mardell Said: “We are bringing the lessons learned from the success on the racetrack to our luxury electric vehicles and later this year, we will unveil our first next generation luxury electric vehicle, Range Rover Electric, which has more than 41,000 customers on its waiting list.”