Jaguar Land Rover (www.jaguarlandrover.com) plans to cut production at its Halewood plant, where it builds the Range Rover Discovery Sport and the smaller Evoque models, in response to economic uncertainty and concern over the future of diesel vehicles.

Last month, the company said that global sales of all its cars rose by 7% to a record 621,100 in 2017, although UK demand flat-lined at 118,200.

It has long been rumoured that the company was struggling in Britain, and staff at the plant are understood to have been worried that the current three-shift production line could be reduced to two, resulting in redundancies.

However, it is understood that the lower production rate — set to take effect in the second quarter of the year — will not lead to job losses.

In a statement, the company said: “The automotive industry continues to face a range of challenges, which are adversely affecting consumer confidence.

“On-going economic uncertainty is being felt by customers at home (with demand for new cars down 5.7% in 2017) and in Europe, where — collectively — we sell about 45% of total UK production.

“Add to this concern around the future of petrol and diesel engines, plus general global economic and political uncertainty, and it’s clear why industry is seeing an impact on car sales.

“As is standard business practice, Jaguar Land Rover regularly reviews its production schedules to ensure that market demand is balanced.”