Jaguar Land Rover, Britain’s biggest carmaker, is set to announce the loss of 1,000 temporary contract workers from its Solihull production facility, blaming sales hit by Brexit and consumer uncertainty over diesel.
Sales of the Jaguar brand are reported to be down 26 per cent in 2018, with Land Rover suffering a 20 per cent drop. In an announcement expected on Monday, JLR will attribute the declining sales to customer uncertainty caused by Brexit, as well as shifting government policy in relation to diesel. Over 90 per cent of the company’s UK sales are from diesel vehicles.
“In light of the continuing headwinds impacting the car industry, we are making some adjustments to our production schedules and the level of agency staff,” read a JLR statement.
“We are however continuing to recruit large numbers of highly skilled engineers, graduates and apprentices as we are over-proportionally invest in new products and technologies.”
Dom Tribe, automotive sector specialist at management consultancy, Vendigital, said: “In the highly-unionised automotive industry, contractors are a flexible employment resource for volume manufacturers – allowing them to reduce labour costs as and when needed.
“It is therefore no surprise that these job losses concern contractors rather than full-time workers. With government continuing to make slow progress over a Brexit trade deal, we may see more automotive manufacturers following suit in order to mitigate risks, reduce overheads and protect their profitability.”
The Solihull plant employs around 10,000 people, including 2,000 contract workers. Earlier in the year, JLR announced that it would cut production at its Halewood plant in Merseyside in light of Brexit uncertainty.
Where are all those brave Brexiters, defending their decision to slice open the goose?
Tim
This is about the very largest Diesel vehicles which is the direction that Tata chose to take in JLR.
I have always hated Diesel, that personal preference has effectively precluded me from buying a JLR car. I drive a large car, its a family car that’s used for work so it needs a big boot. An estate car of just the size that JLR manufacture would be lovely. Instead I went for the same size (same chassis) but in Petrol by Ford. Its a nice large car that ticks all my boxes, but its a petrol engine.
Tata has all its eggs in the diesel basket. That particular goose has as we know now flown!
I will make my next car purchase along the same lines unless I change jobs or the family gets smaller in which case electric might make sense for one of the two my family needs. I will promise to buy British though, if our divorce deal is not conducive to me buying in Europe, if that helps!
i stand by my decision. we supply JLR and they have been using any and all reasons to stall production for a few months, “brexit” is just an excuse for people like you who will believe it. New car sales have dropped for one reason only … Show room tax.
Iam very sorry to hear that news from JLR i have been working the last 2years as vehicle technician.
“The SMMT said demand for cars that run on petrol was 8.5% higher this January than a year earlier, but that positive move was offset by the steep decline in demand for diesels, which account for around a third of the market”. – BBC 5th Feb.
Yes maybe Brexit is having a slight effect – but the problem here is Diesel.
I couldn’t agree more. It’s the demise of diesel and not Brexit. being the real reason. 90% of production to a commodity that’s being black balled isn’t the way forward. It’s just an excuse.
The fact they are too posh for agricultural and such use can’t be helping either. I don’t understand why all diesel manufacturers aren’t looking for a NOX clean up solution. Maybe they are but not being a chemist I don’t know how difficult it is. If there was a solution to it perhaps diesels would regain their popularity as they are certainly refined and offer loads of torque
the reason land rover are going to the wall is they have turned their back on farmers and the customers needs for rugged 4×4 s ie Defender all the other so called land rovers are all just cars on a jag base , no one liked the free lander , prince phillip was collected from hospital in a discovery 4 last week , is this because the royal family , are hanging on to the last real land rover !
I think it’s just an excuse to reduce numbers. Yes sales have fallen but with contract staff not being employees, they are shed. It’s the same in many industries. Poor old Brexit is again the scapegoat
There is no real and economical alternative to diesel, and I wont be giving mine up for the foreseeable. The hybrids are a marketing hit but a farce in terms of fuel efficiency and cost. The other aspect of the downturn in the UK market has, I guess, to be the shocking rise in road tax costs since April 2017. As for Brexit… no, I cant see it making any influence to Joe Public just yet, and certainly wont influence me on my XE choice (replacing a VW CC, but has nothing to do with that scandal). But it will be a used pre- April model for sure.
I am a Land Rover devotee. I learned to drive in my dad’s series 1 and today I still drive a Land Rover – a Discovery 5.
The Disco has a Euro 6 Diesel engine and is a very low emitter of particulates and NOX. However, the rediculous ‘all diesel is evil’ campaign being waged by politicians and large sections of the media ignores this – why let facts get in the way of a witch hunt. Diesel sales have crashed.
Consequently, it’s no surprise that sales have fallen and people have lost their jobs.
I tend to agree with cwilson here, its not the cars that are in terminal decline its the dreaded diesel word. Typical of this Govt. knee jerk reaction to climate change was to demonise ALL diesels regardless of how much they have and are improving in air pollution terms. It was not that long ago the same Govt. was actually putting incentives up to buy diesel cars. Now they maybe old tech and perhaps have had their glory days but there is still plenty of life in them yet until something more radical proves itself. In the meantime of course companies are going to shed workers its the easiest short term ‘fix’
Long range planning?
“What shall we do after lunch, this afternoon: and whilst we are at it, what can we do to win the next election?
Land Rover has turned its back on utilities/farmers/smallholders etc with no follow-on replacement for the Defender. A cave-in to Mitsubishi, Isuzu etc in those sectors. More imports to worsen the balance of payments situation. And what is the connection between “Brexit uncertainty” and fall-off in sales/1000 job losses. More about UK politicians railing against diesel and the fact that finance is not as easy to get as before.
The sad thing is that euro 6 diesels produce much less particulates and still produce more power and less CO than petrol cars. The diesel technology is far from past it’s peak. No small part of the decision to penalise diesels is down to the engine makers though. There were cars using adblue over 10 years ago so the technology was known about but car makers were just too content to milk the diesel sales without having to put in the money to clean up its act until they were forced to by the euro 6 regulations. Now it is just an excuse for the government to make more money by taxing them
Diesel/Gas vehicles in general have been legally defined as a ‘privilege’ to own (driver licenses as well) and NOT one’s ‘right’ to drive or even own. In light of all the climate change data supporting those (open minded scientist) who wish to impose elimination of their greatest technological gift to humanity (the combustion engine), scientist have and will continue their quest to harm our planet with newer untested (but averred safe) technology. Yet, the Biggest Question non-printed (by news media) and scientist and allowed to continue is how much (BILLIONS) of gasoline fuel is being consumed by jet airliners 24/7 365 days per and why it hasn’t been declared as one of the biggest polluting source adding to climate change. Because airline industry stands less than the numbers of small cars and trucks on the roadways today. One jet airliner flying from NY City to Europe or flying to California, consumes three thousand gallons of gasoline fuel in three hours. There are six digit figures of jet airliners flying 24/7 365 per years… billions of fuel being consumed faster than it would take for one car or truck to consume three thousand gallons (most likely a single car would take over a year and a half to consume three thousand gallons) yet a jet airliner about three hours… for what? To transport maybe 100 to 160 passengers. Who is the biggest polluter? Jet aircraft and the scientific news media focus on a Land Rover.
Was the governmental decision to demonise diesel engines, which has caused this major fall for Jaguar / Land Rover, an example of the Law of Unintended Consequences of just simple incompetence? New survey please!
Well this is no surprise to me, I used to work for a firm that designed emissions monitoring equipment. They make those grey boxes you see by the side of the road, well turns out the emissions levels were higher than the traffic flow indicated. That was almost a decade ago, why didn’t some simply drive round with a bunch of gas analysers strapped on the back of their car and then send the info to the government?! Since the mpg ratings were proven by just about every magazine out their to be false oddly enough the emissions must have been also! Used to work at Nissan, most overpopulated place I have ever been in. Far far too many workers achieving very little, no doubt JLR is just the same. The car is the same as the mobile phone and home computer…finished. No design needed apart from protecting environment and users, both of which are not profitable so they won’t happen.
Nothing to do with the “showroom tax” the government added last year??
I’ve owned 5 Land-Rovers so far and only one of them was diesel (series 2 Disco) the others were powered by various petrol engines from the woefully underpowered 2 1/4″ to the magnificent V8. the problem I had with all of them was reliability. that said the older ones I could fix at the side of the road, no chance with a modern engine. The unfortunate thing with JLR is that as previously stated they have lost the farming community in their drive to up-market the vehicles. the people who use these vehicles (as opposed to a life style choice) require simple and strong and fixable in the field should the worst happen. So get back to the roots the Maurice Wilkes envisaged.
Defender does not lend itself to automated production (labour intensive assembly) but all the other alternatives are either less able cross-country vehicles or full of electronics. The Toyota BJ was the last simple 4WD, ever since then Toyota have tried to emulate the Range Rover. A simple, capable 4WD is needed, not just for UK farmers, but over the whole of Africa and most of Asia. The owner of Land Rover is an Indian family and labour is cheap in India. Mr Tata, why don’t you transfer the Defender production to India? You could make a fortune and help lots of people! The Defender could be developed slowly into a monocoque with aluminium wings, no need to rush, let it grow organically. There is a market, I am sure. Go for it Mr Tata!
What a pity with this great British iconic brand, the marketers getting their way thinking we all want Chelsea tractors. LR won its spurs with innovation and invention with the first Defender marks, the iconic Range Rover and Disco. I have had 90’s, 110’s and 5 Disco’s and now no more. They now just follow the pack with plastic trim, electronics for everything and a breath of bad fuel or oils and in some cases rain it all stops, not to mention silly high entry cost. Insulting the buying public that put you on top in the first place, thinking we are all mugs and it will automatically sell because you have slapped the word SPORT on it. This multinational conglomerate owner is totally void of any individual design or ideas. By all means make a car that looks at home on the set of TOWIE and the pimped up versions you sell in LA but do not forget your roots. Listening to some Instagram star that might well have 100,000 sheep followers trust me are not your buying public. Make a car for the true masses as they are your bread and butter customers you should never forget, there will always be a mass market. If Jag/LR continues thinking this way you will recognize the bottom very soon. Back to the start of my rant, Innovate and invent, following top dollar alone and what marketer’s think we want is a road to failure. Oh and just in case you think I am wrong both BMW and Merc make affordable car versions, that by the way put your best jag and RR to shame on reliability.