Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,000 jobs over next two years

In a statement, Jaguar Land Rover said it will “reduce our global workforce” by around 4,000 roles in the next two years due to “significant challenges” facing the automotive industry and a need to find £1.7 billion in savings.

Chief executive PB 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.

“Over the next 12 months, we will launch five new products, continue to leverage the strength of our brands and renew our focus on North America, amongst other markets, to help us deliver double digit revenue growth. At the same time, we are reducing organisational complexity and targeting £1.7 billion of savings to lower our break-even point towards 300,000 vehicles and become fitter to compete in a rapidly evolving market.

“These actions will support continued investment of £15-18 billion over the next five years in electrification, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and enhanced customer experiences.

“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.”

It is understood roles affected will be non-production with the majority of cuts affecting its UK operations, where around 34,000 staff are based.

Just under 10,000 are employed by the company overseas.

JLR revealed last month that revenues fell by 9.6% year-on-year to £6 billion for the three months to June 30, driven by a 9.2% decline in car volumes.

The firm has been recovering from the cyber attack last year, which forced it to stop production at its UK factories for five weeks, weighed on sales and leading to heavy financial losses.