Economy News

Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,000 jobs over two years as tariffs and a cyber-attack bite

Jaguar Land Rover, Britain's largest carmaker and owned by India's Tata, said on Monday 7 September it will cut about 4,000 jobs worldwide over two years as part of an effort to save £1.7bn, The Guardian reports. JLR employs 44,000 people globally, 34,000 of them in the UK. The cuts will fall mainly on its 26,000 salaried UK staff in areas such as management, marketing and research and development; hourly-paid factory workers are understood to be unaffected.

Profits have tumbled as JLR faces strong competition, Donald Trump's US tariffs and the fallout from last year's cyber-attack, which shut its factories. Chief executive PB Balaji said the industry faces “technological change amidst intense competition and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty”. Business minister Jonathan Reynolds ruled out using taxpayers' money to stop the redundancies.

“A body blow for workers, families and communities across the West Midlands.” — Liam Byrne, Commons business committee, via The Guardian

How each outlet framed it

• The Guardian — an early reality check for new prime minister Andy Burnham's promise to “reindustrialise” Britain; the Unite union wants retraining and redeployment over compulsory cuts.
• AP (via PBS NewsHour) — a cost-cutting move to compete with China.
• Free Press Journal — the Indian angle on a Tata company hit by both tariffs and the cyber-attack.
• Telangana Today — the global scope of the cuts over two years.

What we don't know yet: how many of the cuts will be voluntary. Unite's Sharon Graham said the plan is not expected to affect JLR's UK manufacturing footprint or its supply chain.