Jaguar Land Rover Cut 1,000 Contract Jobs Due To Decline in Diesel Sales

Jaguar Land Rover is making some cuts to their work staff. Today, the British automaker announced that it would not renew the contracts of 1,000 agency workers at its Solihull factory in the United Kingdom. According to Autocar, JLR is holding meetings with workers to discuss the changes. In a statement, JLR said the decision is due “continuing headwinds” that have forced the company to make "adjustments to production schedules and the number of agency staff”. Those “continuing headwinds” are due to regulatory crackdown on diesel engines and higher taxes being placed on these models.

This confirms news late last week about the automaker making cuts to their workforce.

JLR also announced that it would be moving 360 workers from the Castle Bromwich to Solihull due to declining car sales. Bromwich is where the company produces most of Jaguar's lineup (F-Type, XE, XF, and XJ).

Sales of diesel vehicles have been hit hard due to the Volkswagen diesel emission scandal. Jaguar Land Rover has been hit the hardest in their home country of the United Kingdom. 90 percent of Jaguar Land Rover models sold in the country are diesels, compared to 45 percent globally. According to industry association SMMT, Land Rover saw sales decline 20 percent to 23,815 through March. Jaguar posted a larger 26 percent decline to 9.709.

JLR is trying to change that as they get ready to launch the I-Pace EV later this year, and plans on introducing electrified variants of all of their models by 2020.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required), Autocar