Jaguar Land Rover job cuts 'could have been worse'

Jaguar Land Rover's decision to cut fewer than 300 jobs could have been much worse, a former Rover boss has said.

Kevin Morley, an Aston Business School professor, said the West Midlands car maker was facing challenges including the shift to electric vehicles, competition from China and tariffs.

JLR, which employs about 30,000 people in the UK, said affected staff would be supported to find alternative roles or offered voluntary redundancy.

Compared with larger cuts in the motor industry, Morley said the job losses were "not a disaster, but it's not good news for the 300 people".

"Compared to Volkswagen, who said they've got to lose 100,000 people, I think 300 is really not that bad," he said.

However, Morley said JLR was dealing with wider problems affecting manufacturers around the world, including US tariffs.

"They sell a lot in America, where the tariffs are impacting them, but I discovered that the average Range Rover sold in America is $100,000 plus, so an extra 10% won't make a huge amount of difference."

He also noted the impact of competition from China.

"The big issue is electric vehicles because they seem to be streaming in from China and electric vehicles need less people to put them together," he said.

He added that he was concerned about Jaguar's move to become an all-electric brand.

"Your standard Jaguar buyer is over 50 and is used to petrol or diesel," he said. "This newfangled electric stuff is not his or her cup of tea."

"I worry about Jaguar going forward. I hope I'm proved wrong."

Morley said a drop in profits following the cyber attack would also add pressure on the business.

"They made £2.4bn last year and £14m this year, so it's a 99% drop in profitability," he said. "That's going to have an impact."

The cyberattack last September closed all manufacturing for several weeks, which meant not a single vehicle rolled off production lines.

That led to a 27% drop in overall production at the company, which is one of the biggest employers in the West Midlands.

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