JLR posts £451m quarterly loss as 4,000 job cuts weigh on results

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reported a £451m loss for the July to September quarter, after booking £530m in costs linked to the removal of 4,000 jobs. Revenues rose to £5.9bn over the period.

The company, Britain's largest automotive employer, said it would have made a small profit from operations had the restructuring costs been excluded. Sales fell in China and the Middle East.

The cuts were announced near the end of the quarter. JLR expects the vast majority to be achieved through voluntary redundancies. So far 3,000 have been confirmed, and most of those employees will leave at the end of November.

Chief executive PB Balaji said the "onslaught of competition" from China meant the UK and EU should drop plans for new post-Brexit trade barriers on each other.

The car industry is lobbying both sides to delay "rules of origin" due on 1 January. These threaten 10% tariffs on UK-EU trade in electric cars that use batteries from Asia. The EU is also considering "made in Europe" rules that would exclude UK-made cars from subsidies.

Balaji said: "We just need time to ensure all these plans start coming into fruition."

JLR, owned by India's Tata, wrote off billions of pounds of investment in China in 2019 after a wave of Chinese carmakers created heavy overcapacity there. It is now targeting growth in the US, where it is in the process of agreeing a deal for Stellantis, the Chrysler owner, to build Land Rovers for the first time.

The company has begun producing electric Land Rovers, starting with the flagship Range Rover at Solihull in the West Midlands. Electric versions of the Range Rover Sport, Defender and Defender Sport are due to follow. JLR also builds the luxury electric Jaguar Type 01, and Balaji said a new version of the Discovery is in development.

The firm was hit by a damaging cyber attack last year.