Thousands of workers at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will be offered redundancies, the company announced on Saturday. The voluntary redundancy programme is open to salaried and management team members, according to reports from the BBC and Sunday Times.
Britain's largest car manufacturer has seen its revenues decline due to factors including falling sales, a cyberattack, and tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. The Times reported that as many as 4,000 jobs could be cut over two years, though JLR told the BBC it has not yet confirmed a specific number. The company, owned by Tata Motors, aims to save around £1.7bn over the next two years.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham stated that she and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will meet with JLR's chief executive, PB Balaji, next week. This follows intensive talks over the weekend aimed at mitigating job losses. Approximately 30,000 of JLR's 44,000 employees are based in the UK, with many working at 14 plants across the West Midlands.
A cyberattack last year led to a 27% drop in overall production and cost JLR about £200m. This contributed to the company posting a profit before tax of £14m, down from £2.5bn the previous year. Tariffs on vehicles imported into the US, which were raised to 25% before a deal for 10% for the UK, also impacted the carmaker's sales, with retail and wholesale volumes falling by about 70,000 and 90,000 respectively.