Aston Martin to slash hundreds of jobs as Trump’s tariffs hit sales

WorldBusiness & Finance
25 Feb 2026 • 6:31 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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Luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin Lagonda is poised to cut nearly 600 jobs, equating to up to a fifth of its global workforce, as the company confronts widening annual losses.

The significant reduction, impacting up to 20 per cent of its 2,800 employees worldwide, follows a previous round of 170 redundancies announced at the beginning of last year.

The luxury marque confirmed the plans after revealing earlier this month that it was consulting on the latest redundancy programme.

In a statement, Aston Martin said: “Having undertaken at the start of 2025 a process to make organisational adjustments to ensure the business was appropriately resourced for its future plans, we had to take the difficult decision at the end of 2025 to implement further changes.

“This latest programme will ultimately see the departure of up to 20 per cent of our valued workforce.”

It said the redundancies came as part of aims to cut costs by around £40 million, most of which would be stripped out this year.

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It is understood that the majority of cuts will impact the UK, where the bulk of Aston Martin’s workers are based, with roles across the business being impacted, including factory staff.

The group’s employees were told about the job cut programme at the end of last year.

Aston Martin is headquartered in Gaydon, Warwickshire, and also has a UK site in St Athan, Wales, as well as worldwide offices and dealerships.

Annual results from the firm showed widened pre-tax losses of £363.9 million for 2025 against losses of £289.1 million the previous year, as trading came under pressure from US tariff hikes and weak demand.

The car manufacturer warned only last week of worse-than-expected profits for 2025 on the back of falling sales as it battles pressure from US tariffs.

Total wholesale sales by volume dropped 10 per cent to 5,448 in 2025, the company revealed.

The US is the car maker’s largest market but it was hit by a 10 per cent tariff last year, reduced from a previously planned 27.5 per cent.

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London-listed Aston Martin Lagonda has been pushing forward with efforts to turn performance around under Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll.

It has acted in recent months to help boost its finances, including cutting investment plans last October.

Last Friday, it also revealed a deal to sell the naming rights to its Aston Martin F1 Team to related party AMR GP Holdings for £50 million.

Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin chief executive, said: “In 2025, we navigated a highly challenging trading environment whilst delivering on critical operational milestones.

“An unprecedented backdrop of geopolitical uncertainties and macroeconomic pressures, including heightened tariffs in the US and China, weighed on our performance and ability to execute our plans effectively.”

He added the year ahead was set to see a “a material improvement in financial performance” but added that tariffs remain a headache for the firm.

“The group continues to engage with both the US and UK governments to secure greater clarity and certainty on the specific automotive tariff.

“Whilst positive dialogue on this matter has been achieved directly with the US government, the company continues to seek more proactive support from the UK Government to protect the interests of small volume manufacturers, like Aston Martin, who provide thousands of jobs, making an important contribution to local economies and to the wider UK automotive supply chain.”

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