Redundancy program opens amid reports of widespread job cuts at car manufacturer
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has opened a voluntary redundancy programme to employees in a bid to reduce its headcount amid dropping sales and tariff-induced challenges, according to reports.
The British automobile manufacturer confirmed the initiative to BBC, saying it aims to "simplify" the business, as well as "improve efficiency and build greater resilience."
"We informed our colleagues, and trade union partners that JLR is opening a voluntary redundancy programme offering salaried and management team members the opportunity to leave the business," a JLR spokesperson told the news outlet.
"We will share further information with our colleagues first."
The confirmation came following a report from the Sunday Times that JLR will cut as many as 4,000 jobs due to the tariffs from the United States and a drop in sales.
The tariffs of 10% on vehicles imported into the US affected JLR's efforts to push luxury cars across the Atlantic, the Times reported.
The carmaker's revenue was also down to £6.0bn in the first quarter, dropping 9.6% year-on-year after a 9.2% reduction in annual wholesale volumes, according to its latest financial results.
The revenue drop also followed the major cyber-attack that hit JLR last year, which prompted the manufacturer to suspend production at its factories in the UK, Slovakia, Brazil, and India through September.
The BBC reported that JLR did not disclose its target number of headcount reductions, but it did not rule out the possibility of compulsory redundancies.
Will UK government offer support?
Meanwhile, UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will meet with the bosses of JLR and the Unite union to discuss the impact of the job cuts.
Reynolds previously shot down the possibility of financially supporting JLR to halt the job cuts.
"Not if it's to bail people out," he said as quoted by BBC.
"If this is about making sure over time that the workforce is right to make the business as competitive as possible, that's the conversation we need to have."
The job losses at JLR, which has a 34,000-strong UK workforce, comes amid the promise of UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to "reindustrialise" Britain.
It joins Volkswagen in reducing its headcount, after the German car manufacturer unveiled a new strategy that could raise job losses there to up to 100,000 positions.
