Jaguar Land Rover begins £2.5bn turnaround plan after second consecutive quarter of losses
Bosses at Jaguar Land Rover embarked on a £2.5bn turnaround plan this afternoon, in an attempt to stem a rising tide of losses and lower sales at Britain’s largest car maker.
Fears of job cuts swelled today in the wake of the firm’s strategy to slash costs by £1bn over the next 18 months.
The measures come on the back of falling sales that have pushed the company into third quarter losses of £90m, compared to profits of £382m in the same period last year, with Chinese demand slumping amid escalating trade tensions with the US.
Sales dipped 13.2 per cent in the three months to the end of September and revenues for the Coventry-based car firm tumbled 11 per cent to £5.6bn.
Such figures come after recent job losses and emergency closures at Jaguar’s flagship Solihull plant, the production site of its Range Rover products, that has suffered from a drop in overseas demand.
Chief executive Ralf Speth commented: “Our results were undermined by slowing demand in China, along with continued uncertainty in Europe over diesel, Brexit and the WLTP changeover. “Given these challenges, Jaguar Land Rover has launched far-reaching programmes to deliver cost and cash flow improvements.”
The weaker performance dragged down results for India’s Tata Motors, which also saw profits dented after a one-off charge in respect to a subsidiary closure.
Tata made a loss of 10.49bn rupees (£11m) in the third quarter, compared with a profit of 24.83bn rupees in the same period last year.