Shropshire Star

Jaguar Land Rover ‘to cut 5,000 jobs' as losses continue

The carmaker employs 44,000 workers at its plants in the West Midlands and Halewood.

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Jaguar Land Rover

Car giant Jaguar Land Rover will announce up to 5,000 job cuts later on Thursday, according to reports.

This means almost one in eight UK workers will lose their jobs at the luxury carmaker, which employs 44,000 workers across the country, including around 1,800 people at its engine plant at the i54 in Wolverhampton.

JLR also employs around 10,000 people in Solihull - its biggest factory - and around 3,200 at its Jaguar factory in Castle Bromwich, where a three-day week was introduced in the autumn.

Some 5,000 jobs cuts will be announced on Thursday, mainly in management, marketing and administrative roles, the BBC reported.

INDUSTRY Jaguar
(PA Graphics)

In October last year the car giant unveiled a £2.5 billion turnaround plan that included cost cutting after Brexit uncertainty and slowing demand in China left it nursing a hefty second-quarter loss.

The firm, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, booked a £90 million pre-tax loss in the three months to September 30, which compared with a £385 million 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.

Hundreds of Wolverhampton JLR workers were sent home on full pay in the run-up to Christmas, as production was slowed down in the wake of falling sales, while around 200 jobs were axed in Solihull.

JLR’s figures were also dented by the introduction of European emissions standards known as WLTP, which resulted in a fall in demand for diesel cars.

Ralf Speth
Ralf Speth (Chris Ratcliffe/PA)

At the time boss Ralf Speth said: “In the latest quarterly period, we continued to see more challenging market conditions.

“Our results were undermined by slowing demand in China, along with continued uncertainty in Europe over diesel, Brexit and the WLTP changeover.”

The firm cut 1,000 temporary contract workers at its plant in Solihull in 2017.

Thursday’s announcement is expected to include details of sales for 2018, the business outlook for this year, an update on cost savings and planned investment in UK plants.

Meanwhile Rolls-Royce Motor Cars chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos has pledged that the carmaker will remain in Britain post-Brexit.

The commitment came as the company unveiled record sales figures, up 22 per cent in 2018 on the previous year.

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