By Joe Wertz
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc is set to cut 4,000 jobs over the next two years as the UK’s largest carmaker confronts soaring costs, plummeting sales and the effects of US tariffs, The Times reported.
Staff were warned late Friday to expect the announcement of the redundancy program which is due to take place on Monday, according to The Times.
In a statement to Bloomberg, the company said it is launching a voluntary redundancy program as it targets about 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in savings over two years. JLR wants to lower its break-even point to 300,000 vehicles and simplify its business in response to global market conditions, according to the statement.
It didn’t mention the number of job cuts planned.
The carmaker, which employs about 33,000 people across the UK, is owned by India’s Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd. The company’s revenue fell nearly 10 per cent in the most recent quarter with pretax profit dropping 69 per cent to 109 million euros.
The company’s first electric Range Rover went on sale earlier this month for 154,070 euros, one of the most expensive electric SUVs on the market and nearly £50,000 more than JLR’s combustion-engine equivalent. The high price sets it further apart from cheaper SUVs coming out of China that are taking the UK by storm.
The company has also had to contend with higher US tariffs and a slump in demand in China. Last year, the carmaker suffered a cyberattack that brought its global operations to a standstill.
The broader tariff environment and competition from Chinese EVs remain significant headwinds for other European carmakers. Volkswagen AG’s supervisory board is backing a restructuring plan that calls for 50,000 additional job cuts.
