The plant in Luton builds the Vauxhall/Opel Vivaro, Citroen Jumpy/Dispatch and Peugeot Expert vans.

The departure of Jaguar veteran Julian Thomson comes after Land Rover's former head of design, Gerry McGovern, was promoted to oversee styling at the Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Production losses due to microchip shortages were about 190,000 units in the first three months. The company expects the shortage to affect production more heavily this quarter.

The fourth-generation Fabia moves to parent VW Group's MQB-A0 platform, allowing the car to be longer, creating more room for passengers.