Days after reporting a sharp fall in wholesale and retail sales carmaker Jaguar Land Rover confirms it is to axe up to 500 people from its workforce. Tony McDonough reports
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is to cut 500 jobs from its UK workforce following a turbulent few months that saw US tariffs imposed on its exports and falling sales.
JLR, which employs around 3,500 people at its factory in Halewood in Merseyside, says the number represents just 1.5% of its UK workforce and insisted the job losses, which would be from its management team, would be voluntary.
As well as Halewood, JLR also operates three factories in the West Midlands at Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Wolverhampton. It has not specified how many jobs will go at each site.
In a statement the company said: “As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes.”
Earlier this month LBN reported a sharp fall in wholesale and retail sales in the three months to June 30 at JLR, although the company had insisted the slowdown was partly expected.
In what JLR called a “challenging quarter” and the first of its financial year, sales were impacted by the planned wind down of legacy Jaguar models ahead of the launch of new Jaguar.
However, sales were also hit by a and a pause in shipments to the US during April 2025 following the introduction of 25% import tariffs by President Donald Trump. And it warned in June the fallout would hit its annual profits.
America is the biggest single market for JLR, which employs more than 3,500 people at its car assembly plant at Halewood in Merseyside. It exports around 100,000 vehicles to the US every year, 25% of its global sales and worth £6.5bn.
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Along with other UK carmakers, JLR was stunned earlier this year when US President Donald announced 25% tariffs on imported cars. This caused JLR to temporarily suspend exports across the Atlantic.
However, weeks later the UK and US Governments reached an agreement that would limit tariffs on car imports into the US to 10%. This change saw JLR resume exports to the US.
JLR has lowered its fiscal 2026 earnings before interest and taxes margins forecast to 5%to 7% from the previous forecast of 10%. This revised EBIT margin forecast is also below JLR’s reported 8.5% margin for the previous fiscal year which ended March 31, 2025.