Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,500 jobs from its global workforce

Luxury car maker Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed it is to axe about 4,500 jobs from its global workforce as part of a £2.5bn turnaround plan.

This is in addition to the 1,500 who left the company during 2018.

Its programme includes the offer of a voluntary redundancy programme at its UK plants, including in the West Midlands and its Halewood site on Merseyside.

The car giant employs around 44,000 staff in the UK.

It is believed most of the job losses will affect its managerial, research, sales and design staff.

The company, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, has been hit by a combination of poor sales in its biggest market of China, a slump in the sales of diesel motors, and uncertainty over the future of the UK car industry post-Brexit.

JLR’s like-for-like sales performance in China during 2018:

In response to poor trading contitions the company has already axed 1,000 agency workers in Solihull and moved its Castle Bromwich plant to a three-day week.

It also got rid of 180 agency workers at its Halewood plant, in Speke, a week after announcing the plant would build the latest version of its successful Range Rover Evoque model in what was seen as a £1bn vote of confidence in the site.

Jaguar Land Rover posted losses of £90m in October.

The company said today that its ‘transformation programme’ will “create a leaner, more resilient organisation with a flatter management structure”.

Chief executive Prof Dr Ralf Speth 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.”

However, the company has also announced plans for a new battery assembly centre in Hams Hall in North Warwickshire and increased investment in its electric motor factory in Wolverhampton.

Dr Speth concluded: “The next chapter in the story of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands will be the most exciting – and challenging – in our history.”

Commenting on the announcement, Unite the Union national officer Des Quinn said: “Unite will be scrutinising the business case for these global job cuts, and Unite expects that any UK redundancies will be on a voluntary basis amongst affected employees.”

He added: “Jaguar Land Rover workers have had to endure a great deal of uncertainty over recent months as they continue to work hard to ensure the carmaker remains a global leader.

“With record levels of new investment and models set to come on stream in its UK factories we look for Jaguar Land Rover to continue to be a global success and the jewel in Britain’s manufacturing crown.

“But the UK Government must play its part too. Britain’s car workers have been caught in the crosshairs of the Government’s botched handling of Brexit, mounting economic uncertainty and ministers’ demonisation of diesel, which, along with the threat of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, is damaging consumer confidence.

“Government ministers need to wake up and start doing more to support UK’s car workers and their colleagues in the supply chain if Jaguar Land Rover’s recent success is to continue.”

Rebecca Long Bailey MP, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said: “This is more concerning news for workers across Jaguar Land Rover today who have suffered months of uncertainty, not least as a result of the Government’s Brexit chaos.

“The Government needs to realise that the automotive sector, from factory floor and right across supply chains, desperately needs tangible support not warm words.”

The news comes as JLR said today that retail sales in 2018 totalled 592,708 vehicles, down 4.6% compared to 2017.

It said the introduction of the Jaguar E-PACE and I-PACE led to Jaguar’s best ever annual sales results in 2018 up 1.2% to 180,833.

However, it said this was “more than offset” by market weakness in China impacting on sales of established models.

The lower sales in China (-21.6%) were partially offset by stronger sales in North America 7.2% and overseas (7.3%). Weaker market conditions primarily relating to diesel and Brexit also weighed on sales in the UK (-1.5%) and Europe (-7.8%).

Felix Brautigam, JLR chief commercial officer, said: “We have seen a strong end to the year in North America, Europe and the UK. Sales were up despite challenging market conditions, including regulatory changes and diesel uncertainty, which have impacted sales performance throughout the year. The UK’s performance in particular has been encouraging in a market segment which is down.

“The economic slowdown in China along with ongoing trade tensions is continuing to influence consumer confidence. The impact is being felt across several industries globally. Despite this we continue to work closely with retailers and are taking the necessary actions to balance production with demand in order to rejuvenate sales as part of our turnaround plan for the business. Encouragingly sales of Jaguar models reached 180,833, and marked a record year for the Jaguar brand.”