JLR plans to gradually resume production from May 18

Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Thursday said it plans to gradually resume production from May 18, starting with manufacturing plants in Solihull in the UK as well as in Slovakia and Austria.

"In China, we are beginning to see recovery in vehicle sales and customers are returning to our showrooms. Our joint venture plant in Changshu has been in operation since the middle of February," JLR said in a statement.

As countries are relaxing distancing guidelines and retailers are reopening around the world, the restart of production at company's other plants will be confirmed in due course, it added.

"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," JLR said.

The company will adopt strict social distancing measures across its business and is currently evaluating a number of different measures to ensure protection for its workforce when they begin to return to work, it added.