Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has revealed plans to cut 500 jobs as it moves to save costs while battling a sharp decline in sales.
The UK-based firm said the reduction in management roles, which amounted to 1.5% of its workforce, would be completed through a voluntary redundancy programme.
JLR has been struggling recently on the back of the US trade war.
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It temporarily paused exports to the US, its biggest single foreign market, in April after Donald Trump’s hike to duties covering cars to 25%.
It was later trimmed to 10% under the US-UK trade truce agreement, but that rate only covers the cars it makes in the UK.
The terms of the deal also cap total annual car exports to the US at 100,000 models, so the higher rate will apply to those vehicles exceeding the threshold.
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The tariff uncertainty, coupled with a planned wind-down of older Jaguar models, meant sales were 15% down over the three months to June to just over 94,000.
JLR confirmed its job cut plans on the day the UK’s jobless rate hit a four-year high.
It also follows on the back of a Kier Starmer speech to staff, promising to protect their jobs, back in April.
The company had said, after the US-UK truce in May, that the deal would do just that.
A spokesperson said: “As part of normal business practice, we regularly offer eligible employees the opportunity to leave JLR through limited voluntary redundancy programmes.”
