Jaguar workers in Birmingham are being offered a free Christmas break in Liverpool – to help meet booming demand for the Range Rover Evoque.

Employees at Castle Bromwich are in line for an all-expenses-paid festive stay on Merseyside as production is scaled back at the Birmingham factory.

And dozens of workers are already said to be anxious to take advantage of the offer of a week at Jaguar Land Rover’s factory at Halewood.

One said: “There’s a lot of men at Castle Bromwich who would love a week away from their wives in the run-up to Christmas to get them out of the shopping.”

The festive week in Liverpool is one of a number of initiatives Jaguar Land Rover is introducing to align production with market demand.

No XKs have been produced at Castle Bromwich for the last three Fridays while production is being cut at the plant in the week before the factory breaks up for Christmas on December 23.

Workers could also be switched to Solihull to meet continuing demand for Land Rover products, with Jaguar sales currently trailing behind the boom at Lode Lane.

UK sales of the Big Cat were down by a third in November to 924 while Land Rover sales were up by virtually the same level to 3,162.

One Castle Bromwich worker, who asked not to be named, said: “People have been asked if they want to go to Halewood to work for that week prior to the Christmas break.

“Other people have been told they will be sent to Land Rover at Solihull. They still employ quite a few agency staff, and instead of laying them off, it has been opened up to them.

“Agency staff do not get any holiday pay so some of them are quite keen to go to Halewood. It’s all expenses paid and quite a few of the blokes have said they fancy a week away from their wives. Some of them see it as a bit of a jolly.

“On XK lines, they are working Monday to Thursday production and with no cars produced on Fridays.”

A spokesman for Jaguar Land Rover said: “Balancing variations in supply to meet current and future demand is part of our everyday operational practice. We do not disclose the details of our manufacturing schedules.”