JLR chief executive calls for EU and Britain to join forces amid competition from Chinese electric carmakers
Jaguar Land Rover has reported a £451m quarterly loss as it counts the cost of cutting 4,000 jobs, while its chief executive has called for the EU and Britain to work together in the face of competition from China.
Britain’s largest automotive employer reported revenues rising to £5.9bn between July and September, but it recorded £530m in costs from the job cuts announced near the end of that period amid tough trading conditions.
JLR said it expected the vast majority of the job cuts to be achieved via voluntary redundancies, with 3,000 already confirmed. Most of those people will leave at the end of November.
JLR said it had scraped into profit from its operations if it ignored the restructuring costs, but it was hurt by falling sales in China and the Middle East.
Many European carmakers are struggling as they face competition from Chinese rivals at the same time as they invest in electric car production.
PB Balaji, JLR’s chief executive, said on Friday the “onslaught of competition” from China meant the UK and EU should stop plans for new post-Brexit trade barriers on each other.
The automotive industry is lobbying the UK and EU intensely to delay the implementation of “rules of origin” on 1 January, which threaten to impose 10% tariffs on UK-EU electric cars that use batteries from Asia. The EU is also considering “made in Europe” rules that would lock UK-made cars out of subsidies.
“Now is the time for actually fostering this entire electrical ecosystem,” Balaji said. “It’s so important for us that we all hold hands, stick together and ensure that we get the system to evolve into the world of electrics.”
He added: “We just need time to ensure all these plans start coming into fruition.”
The company, which is owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata, previously sought to target China for growth, only to write off billions in investments in 2019 as a new wave of Chinese carmakers led to massive overcapacity in the country.
JLR, which was last year hit by a devastating hack, is targeting growth in the US, where it is in the process of agreeing a deal for the Chrysler owner, Stellantis, to manufacture Land Rovers for the first time.
JLR has started to produce electric Land Rovers, beginning with its flagship Range Rover, built in Solihull in the West Midlands. Electric versions of its cheaper, higher-selling Range Rover Sport, Defender and Defender Sport will follow.
It also produces the luxury electric Jaguar Type 01, and Balaji said JLR was working on a new version of the Discovery.
