Jaguar Land Rover to axe 4,000 jobs in £1.7billion cost-cutting drive
The cuts are expected to largely impact office roles, with the majority of cuts affecting its UK operations
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed plans to axe 4,000 jobs across its global workforce over the next two years as part of efforts to slash costs by £1.7 billion.
Listen to this article
The cuts are expected to largely impact office roles, with the majority of cuts affecting its UK operations, where around 34,000 staff in total are based.
Just under 10,000 are employed by the company overseas.
Read More: Business Secretary to meet Jaguar Land Rover bosses amid 4,000 job cuts
Read More: Minister says no bailout for Jaguar Land Rover amid job cut reports
Chief executive PB Balaji said the group was “committed to supporting everyone with care, fairness and respect” through the process.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has already ruled out any government bailout after reports of the job losses emerged over the weekend.
Mr Reynolds has spoken to Mr Balaji and is set to meet the firm’s leadership team on Tuesday.
Downing Street said the announcement of job losses at Jaguar Land Rover meant an “uncertain and concerning time” for workers and showed the impact of “challenging” global market conditions for the automotive industry.
Mr Balaji said: “The automotive industry faces significant challenges, with technological change amidst intense competition and ongoing geo-political uncertainty.
“Through our growth reimagined strategy, JLR is moving decisively to strengthen our competitiveness and position the business for long-term success.”
He added: “As part of this transformation, we will reduce our global workforce by around 4,000 roles over the next two years.
“We recognise this will be difficult news for colleagues affected and are committed to supporting everyone with care, fairness and respect.
“Together, these actions will help build a stronger, more competitive JLR for all our stakeholders.”
JLR said over the weekend it was launching a voluntary redundancy programme, mostly among its 26,000 salaried and management employees rather than production workers.
The company makes most of its cars in factories across the UK, including at Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside.
Liam Byrne, chairman of the Business and Trade Committee, said the job cuts were a “body blow for workers, families and communities across the West Midlands”.
He said: “Whether or not these redundancies are voluntary, we now need urgent assurances that maximum support will be deployed to help everyone affected find new work.”
Trade union Unite is due to join Mr Reynolds in meeting JLR’s boss this week.
Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Death by a thousand cuts has been going on under the nose of successive governments.
“Years of under-investment, unsustainable ZEV (zero-emission vehicles) mandates and high industrial energy costs are crippling the industry.
“There must be further action.”
Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said: “Conservatives, business and the unions are clear – the ZEV mandate and punishing energy costs are crippling the British automotive industry. But Labour are not listening.”
It comes as JLR continues its recovery from a major cyber attack that forced it to halt production last year, with sales also under pressure amid intense competition from cheaper Chinese electric vehicles, while it also tackles soaring costs and the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.