Up to 100 temporary workers at Land Rover's Solihull factory are to lose their jobs two months early.

The staff, who were taken on to help launch the Range Rover Sport, will have their contracts terminated following delays to engine deliveries from the Ford factory in Dagenham.

In order to cope with the downturn in V8 turbo diesel engines – which has been triggered by problems with a supplier – the company has decided to prioritise production of the Range Rover at Lode Lane and reduce the line rate for the Range Rover Sport.

The workers, who were due to leave in March, will have their contracts terminated in January.

The move is in addition to the loss of 1,300 voluntary redundancies at Lode Lane which were announced earlier this year and followed the move of Freelander production to the Halewood factory in Merseyside and the end of engine production for the Defender vehicles at Solihull.

Land Rover is also aiming to reduce the number of temporary staff among the 7,000 employed at Lode Lane as part of its moves to increase quality levels.

Many of the staff were taken on to ramp up production when the Range Rover Sport and new model year Range Rover were launched last year, but are no longer needed now manufacturing is up and running.

The other 100 staff on short term contracts are expected to leave the company at the beginning of April next year.

A spokesman for Land Rover said: "We regret we have to take this action but it has been forced upon us by the lack of V8 diesel engines and demand for these vehicles.

"It is something which is out of our hands and out of the hands of Ford at Dagenham. It is an issue with the component supplier.

"There is massive demand for these engines but Dagenham cannot get enough components to make enough engines.

"We have had to prioritise supply of the V8 diesel engines into the Range Rover line because we have customers waiting for this vehicle.

"As a result we have had to reduce the line rate of the Range Rover Sport. Therefore we have decided to end temporary contracts sooner than expected or planned for."

The numbers affected would be between 100 people working in all parts of the production line for the Range Rover Sport.

The spokesman would not specify by how much production levels had been reduced, but said production of the Range Rover Sport with the Turbo Diesel V8 would continue - albeit at a lower rate.

The car with the new engine will go on sale in January, although petrol models and current V6 diesels – which are being phased out – would not be affected.

The spokesman said it was impossible to source the components from another supplier in the short time frame available.

He added that he did not think the delays to the Range Rover Sport production would lead to a loss of customers.

"We think people will wait for these vehicles. They can still get the V6 diesel engines, or they can wait for the V8 diesel."

The engine was part of the refinements to the Land Rover to replace the six-cylinder BMW diesel engine.

In the Range Rover Sport the new engine was introduced to replace the Jaguar-produced V6 engine which is used on XJ and S-Type diesel cars.