Jaguar Land Rover will cut up to 500 UK-based management jobs as Britain’s largest carmaker contends with mounting cost pressures, falling sales in China, and delays to its electric vehicle launches.
The redundancies, which represent about 1.5% of JLR’s UK workforce, will be implemented through a voluntary severance scheme.
JLR, which employs around 33,000 people in the UK, had returned to strong profitability in the year ending March, posting its highest annual profit in a decade.
However, rising wage costs, trade headwinds and currency effects have since eroded its outlook.
The company temporarily halted shipments to the US after Washington raised import tariffs on cars to 27.5% in April, resuming only after a partial reduction for UK-made vehicles.
However, its best-selling model, the Land Rover Defender — assembled in Slovakia — remains subject to the higher tariff. “We are very well hedged in the short term, but outside of that short term, it will certainly hurt us,” Molyneux added.
The slower-than-expected pace of electric vehicle adoption has added another layer of uncertainty. JLR last year said it would extend production of some internal combustion models and increase its five-year investment budget from £15bn to £18bn to support flexibility in its powertrain strategy.
According to people familiar with the matter, the company has postponed the launch of two new Jaguar EVs and pushed back deliveries of its first electric Range Rover from late 2025 to sometime next year, The Guardian reported on Friday.
The affected Jaguar models — the first under the brand’s widely publicised “Reimagine” strategy — were originally expected to arrive in late 2025 but are now likely to launch several months later.
“By 2030 JLR will sell electric versions of all its luxury brands. Our plans and vehicle architectures are flexible so we can adapt to different market and client demands,” a JLR spokesperson stated.
“We are committed to the highest standards of design, capability and quality, and we will launch our new models at the right time for our clients, our business and individual markets” the spokesperson added.
