Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced plans to cut up to 500 management roles in the UK as part of a voluntary redundancy programme. This is said to be directly linked to new US trade tariffs and changing sales performance.
The company said the redundancies, representing less than 1.5% of its UK workforce, are part of “normal business practice” and are part of the brand’s evolving business needs. JLR, which employs more than 30,000 people across UK sites in Solihull, Wolverhampton, and Halewood, confirmed the cuts follow a drop in sales over the last three months.
A pause in exports to the US, triggered by the rise in import tariffs, and the wind-down of older Jaguar models also contributed to the drop.
Earlier this year, the US imposed an extra 25% tax on UK automotive exports, on top of an existing 2.5% levy. Although a subsequent UK-US deal reduced the tariff to 10% for up to 100,000 cars, roughly equivalent to the UK’s export volume last year, this is still a significant increase from the previous rate.
JLR’s popular Defender model, built in Slovakia, remains subject to a higher 27.5% tariff, further complicating the company’s export strategy.
Despite the job cuts, JLR still say that the trade deal has provided enough stability to commit to a £3.5 billion annual investment.
Hopefully, anyone who ends up out of a job is able to get by as comfortably as possible.
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