Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed it will lose as many as 4,000 employees over the next two years in a bid to bolster its competitiveness, as the industry faces “significant challenges.”
JLR currently employs nearly 40,000 people globally so its proposed cutbacks amount to about 10% of staff. “We have informed our colleagues, and Trade Union partners that JLR is opening a voluntary redundancy program offering salaried and management team members the opportunity to leave the business,” a spokesperson for the company told WardsAuto in an email.
“We recognize this will be difficult news for colleagues affected, and are committed to supporting everyone with care, fairness and respect,” JLR CEO PB Balaji added, in separate comments emailed to WardsAuto.
The automaker is recovering from a devastating cybersecurity attack last year, and is contending with U.S. import tariffs and increasing competition from China-made electric vehicle products.
Going forward, JLR is committed to launching five new vehicles over the next 12 months with a renewed focus on North America exports in a bid for “double digit revenue growth,” Balaji said in his comments.
“At the same time, we are reducing organizational complexity and targeting 1.7 billion British pounds [$2.3 billion] of savings to lower our break-even point towards 300,000 vehicles and become fitter to compete in a rapidly evolving market,” he said.
The moves support continued investment of 15 to 18 billion pounds over the next five years in electrification, digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and enhanced customer experiences, he added.
