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Jaguar Land Rover to cut output and jobs due to Brexit, diesel slump

LONDON — Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover will cut around 1,000 jobs and production at two of its English factories due to a fall in sales caused by uncertainty around Brexit and confusion over diesel policy, a source told Reuters. Output will be cut at its central English Solihull and Castle Bromwich plants, affecting some 1,000 agency workers, the source said. A spokesman at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) declined to comment on the number of jobs which would be lost but the firm said it would be making changes to its output plans. "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," the company said in a statement. It is not renewing the contracts of a number of agency staff at the Solihull site and would be informing staff on Monday of its plans for the 2018-19 financial year. In January, the firm said it would temporarily reduce production at its other British plant of Halewood later this year in response to weakening demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel cars but did not detail any job losses. Jaguar sales are down 26 percent so far this year whilst Land Rover demand dropped 20 percent in its home market as buyers shun diesel, concerned over planned tax rises and possible bans and restrictions in several countries. "It's been obvious to everyone that sales have been dropping," the source said. British new car registrations have been falling for a year which the car industry body has partly blamed on weakening consumer confidence in the wake of the Brexit vote, after record demand in 2015 and 2016. Reporting by Costas Pitas. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: REUTERS/Phil Noble Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Plants/Manufacturing Jaguar Land Rover Diesel Vehicles Luxury sales jaguar land rover jobs brexit

542-HP Jaguar XJR to debut at New York Auto Show

Jaguar has just announced that a higher-than-ever performance version of its XJ flagship will be coming to this year's New York Auto Show next week. Joining the company's R lineup is this XJR, which will boast a stonking 542 horsepower from its supercharged 5.0-liter V8 engine.
Though details about the new XJ are pretty slim - you can read Jag's teaser of a press release - we are told that the car will ride on a "bespoke chassis" and that some aerodynamics work has been done, as well. The one sultry image we have of the car shows a set of trim-specific wheels, lower sills and unique badging on the front grille.
The new XJR would seem to slot above the current top-dog XJ, the XJ Supersport. With a bump up of 32 hp versus the Supersport, performance should get a meaningful shot in the arm, as well. As for pricing, we'll have to wait for the NYC show to be sure. But other Jaguar models show an increase of between 15- and 20-percent between the R model and the next one down; that would indicate a price tag in the $130k range for a standard wheelbase XJR is in order.

Jaguar Land Rover names ousted Renault boss as new CEO

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has picked ousted Renault boss Thierry Bollore as its next chief executive, with a mission to return Britain's biggest carmaker to profit after a big hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. Bollore took over at Renault in January 2019 after the fall of Carlos Ghosn, but was always viewed as close to the French carmaker's longtime boss and was pushed out in October when the company was looking for a fresh start. Bollore will take over at JLR on Sept. 10, replacing Ralf Speth, whose tenure ends after more than 10 years. "It will be my privilege to lead this fantastic company through what continues to be the most testing time of our generation," Bollore said in a statement on Tuesday. JLR was hit this year first by disruption to sales in China and then by lockdowns across Europe and North America as the COVID-19 outbreak spread around the globe. In 2019, it cut jobs to address tumbling diesel sales, which helped it return to profit. But as the pandemic struck, it slumped to a pretax loss of 422 million pounds ($545 million) for the year ended March 31, 2020. The company has already taken steps to tackle the crisis, including agreeing to a loan facility of around $700 million with lenders in China and further staff reductions. JLR is also in talks with the British government over potential support, according to media reports. Bollore takes over a business that built just over 500,000 cars in 2019/20. He faces a number of tasks, including how to handle the Jaguar brand, which underperforms the Land Rover marque, how quickly to electrify its lineup and a potential hit from Brexit if trade barriers are imposed. JLR has a partnership with BMW on electrification, and parent company Tata Motors recently recommitted to the company. "Tata Group recognizes and values Jaguar Land Rover's future potential highly," said JLR Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran earlier this month. "That is why this company is central to our global automotive presence – a presence that we intend to develop for years to come." Related Video:         (Additional reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru and Gilles Guillaume in Paris; editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)