 The future of Land Rover production will be discussed on Wednesday |
Management and unions at the only Land Rover factory in the country have been given another week to come up with a plan to secure its future. Ford, which owns it, had given them eight weeks to work out ways of improving productivity at Solihull.
A Land Rover spokeswoman says a senior Ford of Europe executive is "not completely satisfied" with their plan.
She dismissed reports claiming all Land Rover production could be moved to other plants within 30 days.
Mark Fields, president of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG), had earlier told the factory's 8,000 staff that they might lose their jobs unless they could improve efficiency.
The Land Rover spokeswoman told BBC News Online: "A meeting was held at the end of eight weeks between Mark Fields, local management and trade unions regarding the road map at the Solihull plant.
"He's not completely satisfied but feels good progress has been made.
"He's given them another week to come up with a satisfactory road map and a meeting will be held next Wednesday, 8 September."
PAG includes Volvo, Jaguar and Aston Martin as well as Land Rover.
Freelander moved
Speaking from the US, a former vice president of Ford of Europe, Karl Ludvigsen, said the situation was "extremely serious".
He added: "Ford has an opportunity to make use of unused capacity at Jaguar plants.
"They have the ability, should they wish to do so, to move production to those factories, particularly Halewood."
It has already been decided that the production of Land Rover's Freelander model will be moved to Halewood, Merseyside, in 2006.
Land Rover's headquarters is based at Gaydon, Warwickshire, but its only manufacturing site is at Solihull.
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Ford has an opportunity to make use of unused capacity at Jaguar plants 
