Jaguar Land Rover to cut 4,500 jobs

london — Brexit-facing Jaguar Land Rover will axe around 4,500 mostly UK jobs, the Indian-owned carmaker said on Thursday, after a slump in Chinese sales and as buyers dump diesel cars for electric.

“Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is expanding a business-wide organisation review aimed at reducing the size of its global workforce by around 4,500 people,” the company said in a statement. “This is in addition to the 1,500 who left the company during 2018.”

Owned by India’s Tata Motors, JLR employs 44,000 worldwide, 42,500 of which are in Britain.

In a busy day of announcements by the car sector, US group Ford said it plans a major restructuring of its European operations, including job cuts, to boost profitability.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars meanwhile

said it had no intention of switching UK production abroad despite growing concerns over the possible impact of a no-deal Brexit on the economy.

German-owned Rolls-Royce sold a record-high number of luxury vehicles last year, with purchases soaring worldwide, it also announced Thursday.

As for JLR, its move to shed more than 10 per cent of its UK workforce is aimed at delivering £2.5

billion ($3.2 billion, €2.8 billion) of cost cuts over 18 months, as the group looks to move further into the electric car segment amid a massive drop off in sales of diesel vehicles.

“We are taking decisive action to help deliver long-term growth, in the face of multiple geopolitical and regulatory disruptions as well as technology challenges facing the automotive industry,” said JLR chief executive Ralf Speth.