Production of the Freelander will move to Merseyside

The four-wheel drive vehicle is currently made in Solihull but the company plans to move production to the Jaguar factory in Halewood, Merseyside.

Land Rover said on Friday the move would create 1,000 jobs at the Halewood plant and was expected to take place within the next two years.

The company said it would improve efficiency and was "job neutral" so no jobs would be lost in the UK.

The Solihull plant, which is undergoing a �200m investment, will concentrate on production of its larger premium and specialist 4x4 vehicles.

The workforce in the Midlands will be extremely disappointed, even resentful with today's news Dave Osborne T&G union

Jaguar and Land Rover are part of the Premier Automotive Group, which is owned by Ford.

The chairman and chief executive of Jaguar and Land Rover, Bob Dover, said: "Given the close collaboration between the two companies, this is a rational business decision.

"The retention of Land Rover vehicle assembly in the UK means that this move is 'job neutral'.

"In other words, our objective is to create as many jobs in Britain by this action as we will take out."

He added: "Halewood has an excellent reputation for building higher volume premium vehicles and the Solihull plant has over 50 years' experience of building larger premium and specialist 4x4 vehicles.

Union reaction

"The reduction in production complexity will certainly benefit Solihull and its products and will allow the plant to focus on improving competitiveness."

Production will move to the Halewood plant in Merseyside

But workers in Solihull were reeling from the news as they left the Lode Lane plant.

One said: "We're often asked to toe the line and to do certain things - to agree to certain things - to keep our jobs secure.

"We seem to do all that then we hear on the radio that we are losing it to Halewood. It would have been nice to have been told about it by the company first."

Dave Osborne, the Transport and General Workers Union's national secretary for the car industry, said: "Given previous commitments by the company the unions note that Solihull will remain the primary site for Land Rover.

"However, the workforce in the Midlands will be extremely disappointed, even resentful with today's news given their commitment over the last two years since Ford took control, to turn round a $250m annual loss to break even."

He said 1,100 jobs now stood to be lost at Solihull and the unions had "grave doubts" as to the logic of the move.

But operations manager at Halewood, Colin Tivvy, said the move underlines the plant's reputation for productivity and quality.

"It's really good for Jaguar at Halewood," he said.