Jaguar Land Rover warns on more job cuts
Jaguar Land Rover has warned that it will need to make further job cuts unless the British government provides financial aid to the marques.
The company has already made 500 of its manufacturing workers redundant, and is cutting 150 temporary workers at the end of April. The company says that without government aid, managers will be asked to consult with staff over further redundancies across the company.
The sales, marketing and research and development teams are expected to bear the brunt of the cuts, following previous manufacturing redundancies. About 850 temporary workers were sent home in December and around 300 managers have been asked to leave voluntarily.
Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors, says Jaguar Land Rover needs £500m in loan guarantees from the British government. “If funds are not available the company will not be able to run. So layoffs will take place,” he comments.
“If the attitude of the government is who blinks first, the damage is going to be very devastating,” he said in an interview with Sky News
Tata Motors bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Co. last summer for $2.3bn (£1.6bn). The brands have seen sales rapidly decline in the recession. Last year, global unit sales of Jaguar and Land Rover cars fell 12% to 251,590.
UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said Jaguar Land Rover must stand on its own because it is a private company.
Jaguar Land Rover employs about 15,000 people in the UK at three factories and two development centres.
Earlier this month, the British government approved a £27m loan to help Land Rover develop a smaller Range Rover model, code-named the LRX.
