Jaguar Land Rover sheds 1,000 jobs after diesel sales plummet

JAGUAR Land Rover is cutting 1,000 jobs and shuffling staff around its factories as sales fall.

The company will not be renewing the contracts of agency staff at its Solihull plant, which builds the XE and XF saloons and sports cars, with the workers leaving JLR in May and June.

A further 350 permanent staff are being relocated from the Castle Bromwich factory to Solihull.

JLR said the move was part of a “regular review of production schedules to ensure market demand is balanced globally”. The company has about 40,000 UK staff.

The cuts are being blamed on several factors, including the so-called “demonisation” of diesel in the UK as the Government uses taxes to try to dissuade motorists from purchasing cars powered by the fuel, which ministers say produces more pollution than petrol.

About 90pc of the cars JLR sells in the UK are powered by diesel. The fall in consumer confidence related to economic uncertainty ahead of Brexit has made motorists less keen to make big purchases, while saloon cars are also becoming less popular, which are other factors in the move by JLR.

JLR said it “remained committed to our UK plants”. The company added: “In light of the continuing headwinds impacting the car industry, we are making some adjustments to our production schedules and the level of agency staff.”

In January, JLR said it would be slowing production rates at its Halewood plant as economic uncertainty and concern over the future of diesel hit Britain’s biggest car maker. It was feared that there would be job cuts at the Merseyside facility, which builds the Range Rover Discovery Sport and smaller Evoque models, as it moved from a three-shift system to two shifts a day.

Global sales of JLR cars last year rose by 7pc to a record 621,100, although demand flatlined in the UK at 118,200. Since the start of this year sales have gone into reverse, with demand for Jaguars down 26pc, and Land Rover off 20pc.

The backlash against diesel and the Volkswagen emissions scandal that helped fuel it have impacted JLR sales. Industry-wide figures show that the fuel is losing popularity.

In 2017, diesel made up 42pc of the new car market in the UK, down from 47.7pc the year before. The most recent industry data from March showed a 37.2pc market share.

Jaguar’s recently launched E-pace small SUV and I-pace electric car could help to stem some of the marque’s sales declines.