Jaguar Land Rover announces 4,500 job losses, starting in Britain

Luxury carmaker addresses growing uncertainty about Brexit and slowing demand in China

Britain’s biggest car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced it will cut 4,500 jobs to make £2.5bn of cost savings.

The majority of those cuts are expected to be in the UK and a voluntary reduction programme has been launched.

It comes as the luxury carmaker addresses growing uncertainty about Brexit and slowing demand in China.

The new job losses are in addition to the 1,500 workers who left the company last year.

Ralf Speth, chief executive of JLR, said: “We are taking decisive action to help deliver long-term growth, in the face of multiple geopolitical and regulatory disruptions as well as technology challenges facing the automotive industry.”

The company, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, also announced further investment in electrification, with electric drive units to be built at its factory in Wolverhampton and a new battery assembly centre at Hams Hall in Birmingham.

JLR employs 44,000 workers in the UK at sites in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.

The firm booked a £90m pre-tax loss in the three months to 30 September, which compared with a £385m profit in the same period in 2017.

In China, demand was adversely impacted by consumer uncertainty following import duty changes and escalating trade tensions with the US.

In the UK, “continuing uncertainty related to Brexit” was blamed.

The company builds a higher proportion of its cars in Britain than any other major or medium-sized carmaker and has spent millions of pounds preparing for Brexit, in case there are tariffs or customs checks.

Commenting on the voluntary redundancies, business secretary Greg Clark said: “This is a commercial decision for the company but nevertheless it will clearly be a worrying time for Jaguar Land Rover employees and their families.

“Jaguar Land Rover is a much valued British company with a talented and dedicated workforce.”

Mr Clark added: “Jaguar Land Rover and its owners have made clear they remain firmly committed to the UK, continuing to invest billions and employing tens of thousands of people.”

He said the government would work closely with the business to ensure it can succeed and announced he would meet with leaders at JLR and local MPs on Monday.

Meanwhile, Ford signalled “significant” cuts among its 50,000-strong European workforce under plans to make it more competitive and make its business more sustainable.

The company started consultations with unions, with details of job cuts not expected until later in the year, although staff based at Warley in Essex will move to Dunton.

Steven Armstrong, Ford’s European group vice president, said the company was making “tough” decisions by undertaking a “complete review” of its European operations.

He said the announcement was not directly linked to Brexit, but he added that Ford will have to undertake a further review if the UK leaves the EU without a deal in March.

Mr Armstrong declined to say how many jobs will be cut, but he said the impact will be “significant”.

Additional reporting by agencies