Jaguar Land Rover to slash thousands of jobs to offset losses

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is expected to announce thousands of layoffs as part of a £2.5 billion savings plan aimed at offsetting losses suffered by the company.

The British carmaker was hit hard by poorer than expected sales figures in China and weaker demand for diesel cars, which saw the company record a £90 million loss in October.

The loss prompted the company to announce a £2.5 billion savings plan, with £1 billion worth of cost-cutting measures included within it.

JLR expected to cut 5000 jobs

The sheer size of the cost-cutting plan suggests that JLR will make a lot of jobs cuts, but the carmaker has not made any official statement on the subject.

However, the Financial Times did report in December last year that up to 5000 jobs could get cut by the British carmaker.

JLR, which is owned by India-based Tata Motors, has several UK factories based in Halewood, Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

Weak demand from China hurts JLR sales

According to the China Passenger Car Association, the car industry suffered its first decline in sales in China in more than 20 years, with trading down 6% to 22.7 million units in 2018.

Ongoing trade tensions between the US and China have helped make Chinese consumers more skittish and Brexit uncertainty is having a negative impact on some British companies.

JLR has also seen its sales figures suffer greatly in the wake of the VW emission cheating scandal, which has driven European consumers away from diesel-powered cars.

The British carmaker has been particularly hurt by the bad press surrounding diesel engines, with more than 80% of its cars sold with diesel engines in Europe.