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A Warning for UK Car Makers

Times Business

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00:0Why is Jaguar Land Rover cutting 4,000 jobs? Dominic O’Connell examines what these reductions mean for the future of British car manufacturing.

In this episode of The Business, we break down the decision by Jaguar Land Rover to cut around 10% of its UK workforce as the carmaker pushes to save £1.7 billion. With automotive output falling to levels not seen since the 1950s in the UK, we ask whether soaring energy costs, Donald Trump's tariffs, and fierce Chinese competition threaten the wider UK economy and long-term economic growth.

Dominic is joined by Oliver Gill, deputy business editor at The Sunday Times, who broke the story, and David Bailey, professor of business economics at Birmingham Business School. Together, they explore whether Jaguar Land Rover can successfully pivot to luxury electric vehicles, how changing government fiscal policy impacts British business, and whether Prime Minister Andy Burnham's pledge to reindustrialise Britain is realistic.
Guests:
Oliver Gill, deputy business editor at The Sunday Times
David Bailey, professor of business economics at Birmingham Business School

Presenter:
Dominic O’Connell, Times columnist and Times Radio business correspondent
Producer: Hope Federico
Executive Producers: Emily Leahy and Miriam Hall
Video Producer: Bronwen Latham
Image: Getty

00:00:00 - The JLR Job Cuts & UK Auto Crisis
00:00:54 - Breaking the Story: JLR's 4,000 Layoffs
00:05:38 - Tata, Jaguar's Pivot, and Midland's Economy
00:10:00 - Strategic Missteps & Squeezed Luxury Markets
00:14:33 - High Energy Costs & Moving Production Overseas
00:18:24 - Why UK Car Production Has Halved Since 2016
00:25:41 - The Future of British Manufacturing & Industrial Strategy

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20 Comments

@ryanbaldridge2907 3 weeks ago

Luxury electric? Are we hearing ourselves? Just go back to making the Jaguar XJ series the way they looked in the 90s. Something with character.

@jonathancollard3710 3 weeks ago

Good content 👍

@derekwarren1862 3 weeks ago

All very interesting but we need to know more about the leopard skin suitcase???

@StephenPeace-dq2 3 weeks ago

Outstanding!!!

@michaelcrouch5708 3 weeks ago

Ah yes, the "cyber attack"

@andymyers2759 3 weeks ago

Let's not forget that Jaguar basically stopped making cars, many dealerships have closed, their products have been unreliable, service poor and then the woke joke of the Type 00. Much as I love the back catalogue of Jaags, they have mismanaged their way into oblivion. Obviously the UK governments also have a big share of the blame.

@mramg6038 2 weeks ago

So after a decade of the government handing out grants for EV's made in China, we're saying it's a surprise JLR are doing layoffs... Interesting.

@mikedx2706 2 weeks ago

Jaguar might as well lay off all of its factory workes, since they already built all the Type Tutti Fruitti Phaguars that will be sold.

@syniodesign 3 weeks ago

Rather watch the TV than watch this video, never seen so many adverts and plugs in one YouTube video. Ridiculous.

@ThomasAquinas-y9p 3 weeks ago

I know that for woke sake and the possibility of being canceled as host of a Times podcast you can’t discuss the elephant in the room which is that Jaguar brand suffered severe, self-inflicted business damage following a disastrous November 2024 rebranding campaign that features trans males in TV commercials instead of the actual car. Self censorship is bad for podcasting to get to the truth of the matter.

@DannyCollins-l9u 2 weeks ago

Automation has and will continue to reduce the number of workers required to manufacture anything, including cars. Currently, manufacturers are not replacing retiring employees.

@gmatthews7632 2 weeks ago

Pretty silly conversation, if they don’t mention the fact that Tata said there is no more money from investment and that is what is driving all of the decision-making

@fuwingpang5445 2 weeks ago

I am only surprised Jaguar is still operating.

@mark-z5c 3 weeks ago

Why dont all govt, purchases, be for UK "made products", police drive round in bmws, nhs ambulances are vw, mercedes etc, council bin lorries round my way, mercedes? Great for the germans, even the british army now has man lorries, why?

@osmund10 2 weeks ago

Isn’t the combined effect of JLR decisions a dangerous dilution of brand image? Defender already moved out to Chery, contemplating a venture with Stellantis, at the same time as Jaguar dumps its customer base to do something untested? All this while the prestige of Range Rover is seriously challenged by sumptuous new Chinese vehicles, and Toyota Land Cruiser having more credibility in many countries?

@JimSmith-d9t 3 weeks ago

The Government HAS an industrial policy. It is to allow all our industry to wither, and permit China to destroy it, one factory at a time. Successive regimes, of both colours, have failed to realise that 50% of school leavers getting degrees, and aiming for trouser shining salaried employment is a path to ruin. As for net zero; we have to get real - it is costing us dear while the rest of the World laughs and looks on, as our once proud empire dies. Our transport infrastructure is a shambles, our countryside littered with rubbish, our Defence largely non existent, and our housing prices ludicrous. It is a mess.

@denny-f4s 2 weeks ago

Mismanagement, and what else?

@vasantos-re4hb 3 weeks ago

Engineering roles? So that means future cars won't have enough talent to develop them...

@NigelCottrell 3 weeks ago

Spend an hour googling Jaguar Land Rover reliability problems, why would anyone buy a known nightmare of DPF, oil dilution, snapping crankshafts, the new 6 cylinder diesel which seems even worse than the 4 cylinder its derived from, and battery cooling problems, on the ipace, which goes a long way to explaining the catastrophic depreciation.
Hardly surprising people like the interiors but actually buy something that works.