Ford chief operating officer Nick Scheele denied yesterday at the Tokyo Motor Show that Jaguar's Browns Lane assembly plant in Coventry, where the new XJ is built, would be closed, commenting that, "This is really speculation that's been running around now for six to nine months." The denial was first reported in the UK by the Birmingham Post. - The Ford Transit assembly lines at Southampton, which produce up to 375 Transit vans a day, stopped at the end of last week due to parts shortages caused by industrial action at Ford's Genk plant in Belgium. Southampton workers continued to attend for work this week, but were diverted to training programmes.