Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has revealed plans to axe 4,000 jobs across its global workforce.
The UK’s largest car manufacturer confirmed the major cuts on Monday morning in a move which helps the business with ambitions to cut its costs heavily.
The move marks a downbeat signal for the Labour Government over the current state of confidence among UK firms.
Here, the PA news agency looks at recent issues facing JLR and why it is cutting the roles:
– What has it announced?
JLR has said it plans to cut around 4,000 jobs globally over the next two years.
The cuts are expected to largely impact office roles, with the majority affecting its UK operations, where around 34,000 staff in total are based.
Just under 10,000 are employed by the company overseas.
– What does it want to achieve?
The company is seeking to drive its profits sharply higher after a weaker performance over the past year.
The cuts are linked to a £1.7 billion cost-cutting plan announced by the group earlier this year in order to help boost its finances.
Bosses at the company said they believe the overhaul will help build a “stronger, more competitive JLR” for the future.
– How is the company performing financially?
It has revealed declines in both sales and profits over the past year.
In its latest update in August, JLR reported that revenues had slumped by 9.6% over the latest quarter after sales volumes of its vehicles fell by 9.2%.
JLR also reported a pre-tax profit, before exceptional items, of £109 million for the quarter, compared with a £351 million profit a year earlier.
It came after the company saw its profits nosedive by more than 99% to £14 million for the financial year to March, after being impacted by disruption to production linked to its major cyber attack, as well as other factors.
– What was the impact of last year’s cyber attack?
JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata, was forced to halt production across its UK factories for five weeks from September 1 last year due to a cyber attack, weighing on sales in late 2025.
All of the group’s manufacturing sites – including factories in Solihull, West Midlands, and Halewood, Merseyside – stopped production but restarted in October.
Sales from September were therefore significantly reduced for a number of months as the firm built back production volumes.
– What other issues have impacted the company?
The cyber attack was one of a number of major issues which hit the group’s finances.
More recently, production of its vehicles was knocked by the impact of a fire at a supplier’s factory.
JLR briefly paused production for its Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models at its Solihull plant in March after a major fire at the factory of a component manufacturer in Norway.
This heavily weighed on production volumes in the second quarter of 2026.
JLR also said it witnessed disruption linked to the Middle East conflict, which has also driven energy and fuel costs higher.
The company was also impacted by the fallout of Donald Trump’s US tariff policy – which introduced a 10% tariff on the first 100,000 cars produced in a year, which this rising to 27.5% after.
The tariff policy weighed on sales of the Range Rover and the Defender models in the US.
JLR said earlier this year that it was talking with fellow carmaker Stellantis over a potential deal to allow them to produce vehicles in the US.
– What else is impacting demand from potential customers?
Major geopolitical and supply chain issues have also come amid a challenging consumer backdrop for the business.
Demand for new vehicles has been knocked by tight consumer budgets while cash-strapped Britons have also increasingly looked towards cheaper Chinese vehicles.
JLR is among a raft of car brands to have witnessed a slowdown as Chinese manufacturers, such as BYD and Chery, report positive growth.
– Why is it currently making fewer cars?
Production volumes were knocked back by a number of supply issues, such as the fire at its part supplier, but the company also opted to reduce its Jaguar production in 2025 as part of a transition to new models.
The luxury brand decided to stop the production of numerous diesel and petrol-run models, including its F-Pace.
Jaguar is making a transition to focus on electric models as part of a strategy overhaul designed to boost the brand’s fortunes.
Production of its electric Range Rover was also due to start last year but is now expecting to launch in the coming weeks following delays.
Read MoreChinese theater, promoter fined for altered patriotic song in a comedy show
Party's over for crypto scammers who went on a spending spree after a $240 million bitcoin theft
Trump’s sinking popularity could cost Republicans control of Congress
Republicans removing Trump from midterms campaign websites: reports
Bayeux Tapestry’s UK return described as ‘enormous act of diplomacy’
Swinney refuses to say when NHS job cut numbers will be announced
