JLR reports £451m quarterly loss as 4,000 job cuts hit results

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

The company recorded £530m in costs from the job cuts, which were announced near the end of the quarter amid tough trading conditions. JLR said it just made a profit from operations when the restructuring costs were excluded, but sales fell in China and the Middle East.

JLR expects the vast majority of the reductions to come through voluntary redundancy. So far 3,000 have been confirmed, and most of those employees will leave at the end of November. JLR is Britain's largest automotive employer.

Chief executive PB Balaji said on Friday that the "onslaught of competition" from China meant the UK and EU should drop plans for new post-Brexit trade barriers against 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 weighing "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, owner of Chrysler, to build Land Rovers for the first time. The company was hit by a damaging hack last year.

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