Jaguar Land Rover CONFIRMS 4,500 job losses

Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed a further 4,5000 job losses in the UK as it fights to address a perfect storm of problems creating losses.

Back in December we reported that Jaguar Land Rover would slash up to 5,000 jobs in the UK as a perfect storm of problems saw sales plunge and losses arrive, and today JLR has confirmed it will cut 4,5000 from its workforce.

That figure is around 10 per cent of JLR’s UK workforce, and added to the job losses last year at the Tata-owned firm it represents a significant reduction in employment.

JLR say the job cuts will come mainly through voluntary redundancy and early retirement, and it’s thought the bulk of the jobs which will go will be white-collar rather than production.

The truth is that something like this has been coming for a long time as, despite some really very good cars, Jaguar has failed to make headway. 

Sales of Jaguar’s saloon models – XE, XF and XJ – are really quite woeful, and even the much vaunted SUV ‘saviours’ at Jaguar – the F-Pace and E-Pace – aren’t even filling the saloon sales losses, with the E-Pace also appearing top garner much of its sales from buyers who would otherwise have bought the more expensive F-Pace.

Add in to that a model overlap now between Jaguar’s SUVs and Land Rover’s – and even the overlap in Land Rover’s range with the Velar and Range Rover Sport – and it’s clear some serious work is needed.

That might have been doable without painful job losses if JLR had acted earlier and hadn’t had to contend with the demonisation of diesel, uncertainties over Brexit and difficult trading in China.

Ralph Speth, JLR CEI, 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 ‘Charge and Accelerate’ programme combines efficiency measures with targeted investment, safeguarding our future and ensuring that we maximise the opportunities created by growing demand for Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared technologies.

The job cuts are just the start; we’d hope to see a radical solution to the Jaguar ‘problem’ before too long, not sticking plasters and prayers, and real progress in model rationalisation across the entire JLR portfolio.