Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced plans to eliminate up to 300 salaried and managerial positions as part of a restructuring programme, citing the impact of US tariffs and a devastating cyber attack that disrupted operations for months. The West Midlands-based automotive giant said the move is part of its ongoing transformation towards next-generation and electric vehicles.
Job cuts announced amid transformation
The company confirmed that the "redeployment and displacement" programme will affect staff across its locations in Solihull, Gaydon in Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, and Coventry. Hourly production workers are not included in the programme. JLR expects fewer than 300 employees to leave, all in salaried and management grades.
In a statement, a JLR spokesperson said: "As we evolve our operating model to accelerate the growth of our House of Brands and deliver our next-generation vehicles, we are transforming our business to improve decision-making and performance. As part of our ongoing transformation initiatives, we have launched a limited redeployment and displacement programme. Impacted colleagues will be supported to find alternative roles wherever possible, alongside the option of voluntary early exit."
Impact of US tariffs and cyber attack
JLR’s annual profits slumped by more than 99% year-on-year, with the company reporting only £14 million in profit before tax and exceptional items for the year ending March, down from £2.5 billion the previous year. The sharp decline was driven by US automotive tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump, which disrupted JLR’s crucial export market. Additionally, a crippling cyber attack on August 31 forced the company to shut down most systems and factories for weeks, causing severe knock-on effects on its local supply chain, with disruption ongoing.
Support for affected employees
Affected staff will be offered voluntary early exit on favourable redundancy terms or the opportunity to explore redeployment within the company. Redundancy will be an option if suitable alternative roles cannot be agreed. Unite national officer Des Quinn said: "Any of our members that need support will have the full support of Unite the union."
Locations and workforce
JLR employs approximately 33,000 people in the UK, with thousands based in the West Midlands. The Solihull vehicle assembly plant has around 10,700 staff, while the global headquarters in Gaydon employs 10,000 people in product engineering and design. The Wolverhampton propulsion and battery manufacturing plant has up to 1,400 employees, and the Coventry advanced engineering and commercial operations base employs 2,500 people. The company stated that affected employees are spread across all these locations.
