Tata Motors’s subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover Limited is likely to cut jobs next year as part of its £2.5 billion cost-saving plans.
However, the UK-based luxury carmaker declined to comment on reports.
After a loss of £90 million in the three months to September, hit by falling sales in China and Europe, JLR started focusing on improving profitability and cashflow. The company launched two initiatives called ‘Charge’ and ‘Accelerate’, to identify short-term cost and cashflow improvements as well as longer-term operating efficiencies. Total profit, cost, and cashflow improvements of £2.5 billion over the next 18 months were targeted.
As part of this cost efficiency plan, the company plans to reduce its spending by about £500 million to £4 billion per year this financial year and next, so these speculation about large-scale job cuts are not surprising.
According to a report in the Financial Times, several people close to the carmaker said JLR will outline in January the short-term element of its plan, including the loss of up to 5,000 jobs.
“Jaguar Land Rover notes media speculation about the potential impact of its ongoing Charge and Accelerate transformation programmes,” a JLR statement said.
“As announced when we published our second quarter results, these programmes aim to deliver GBP 2.5 billion of cost, cash and profit improvements over the next two years. Jaguar Land Rover does not comment on rumors concerning any part of these plans,” it noted.
The automotive company employs 40,000 in the UK and has already cut 1,000 temporary contract workers at its plant in Solihull, which builds Range Rovers and the Land Rover Discovery SUV. It has also reduced working hours for some workers, including at its Wolverhampton factory in the run-up to Christmas.
In 2017/18 Jaguar Land Rover sold 614,309 vehicles in 129 countries, with more than 80 percent of vehicles being sold abroad.
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