Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said it will not renew the contracts of 1,000 temporary workers in the West Midlands.
The car manufacturer attributed the decision to cut jobs at its plants Solihull to “continuing headwinds” in the car industry.
The plant in Solihull currently builds Range Rovers and the Land Rover Discovery SUV models. As it stands, the factory employs 10,000 staff, alongside 2,000 contract staff.
Many have pointed to continued Brexit-Related uncertainty affecting production, alongside the fall in demand for diesel cars.
According to a statement, the company said:
“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. We are however continuing to recruit large numbers of highly skilled engineers, graduates and apprentices as we over-proportionally invest in new products and technologies.”
Despite the losses, the manufacturer, which is owned by India’s Tata Steel, said back in June that it is committed to recruiting around 5,000 engineers.
Last year, Jaguar Land Rover enjoyed strong sales on the back of demand in the United States and China.
Nevertheless, it has been reported that the company has witnessed a 26 per cent drop in UK sales in the first three months of 2018, suggesting a difficult lies ahead.
Back in January, JLR warned that sales had weakened following an increase in diesel excise duty introduced in Britain.
The government introduced the higher tax for diesel cars in an effort to step up air pollution reduction efforts.
Notably, diesel accounts for around 90 per cent of the company’s sales in the UK.
However, the downward trend has been reflected across figures for the wider UK car industry, with sales plummeting in March. Overall, sales of diesel-powered cars fell by 17 per cent in 2017.
Shares in Tata Steel (NSE:TATASTEEL) are currently trading -0.46 per cent as of 09.39AM (GMT), as investors react to the announcement.