Jaguar Land Rover reports £451m quarterly loss after cutting 4,000 jobs
JLR chief executive calls for EU and Britain to join forces amid competition from Chinese electric carmakers Jaguar Land Rover has reported a £451m quarterly loss as it counts the cost of cutting 4,000 jobs, while its chief executive has called for the EU and Britain to work together in the face of competition from China. Britain’s largest automotive employer reported revenues rising to £5.9bn…
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced a £451 million quarterly loss following the reduction of 4,000 jobs. The UK's largest automotive employer reported a revenue increase to £5.9 billion between July and September, but incurred costs of £530 million due to the job cuts made towards the end of that period amidst challenging trading conditions. JLR expects most of the job cuts to be achieved through voluntary redundancies, with 3,000 already confirmed, and most of these individuals expected to leave by the end of November.
The restructuring costs have hurt JLR, which is benefiting from profit in its operations excluding these expenses. However, the company has been adversely affected by falling sales in China and the Middle East. JLR's Chief Executive, PB Balaji, has called for collaboration between the EU and Britain to counter competition from Chinese electric carmakers.
He emphasized the importance of fostering the electrical ecosystem and urged for the delay of the implementation of "rules of origin" on 1 January, which could impose 10% tariffs on UK-EU electric cars using batteries from Asia. The EU is also considering "made in Europe" rules that could exclude UK-made cars from subsidies.
Balaji stressed the need to work together and ensure that plans for the electric car industry come into fruition. The Indian conglomerate owner, Tata, previously sought growth in China, but wrote off billions in investments in 2019 due to massive overcapacity in the country. JLR is now focusing on growth in the US, where it is in the process of agreeing a deal for Stellantis, the owner of Chrysler, to manufacture Land Rovers for the first time.
JLR has already begun producing electric Land Rovers, starting with its flagship Range Rover, built in Solihull in the West Midlands. Future electric versions of the Range Rover Sport, Defender, and Defender Sport are also in development, along with the luxury electric Jaguar Type 01. Balaji mentioned that JLR is working on a new version of the Discovery.
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