450 redundancies announced at JLR
Jaguar has announced its latest round of redundancies as the credit crunch bites harder on the car market. 300 permanent management staff and 150 agency workers are to be cut.
"Our employees understand that Jaguar Land Rover functions as one company and that this move will help both companies’ positioning as we move forward" Jaguars corporate director Don Hume was quoted as saying.
Jaguar is suffering quite harshly from the links with Land Rover, as Jaguar is expected to continue its strong sales having announced a range of new engines in the Jaguar XJ, the XF and the Jaguar XK models.
The redundancies are despite latest statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showing an increase in Jaguar Cars annual sales for 2008, mainly from the newly introduced Jaguar XF. It is expected most of the cuts will be an the Land Rover side due to the poor figures it has posted (30% down), and caused by its lack of variety in a model range featuring purely 4x4's that have dramatically lost popularity due to their large size and weight, poor economy and environmental impact.
