Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it is opening a voluntary redundancy programme, a year on from a cyber attack which brought production to a halt for more than a month.

The firm said it needed to save about £1.7bn over the next two years as it seeks to adapt to “evolving global market conditions”.

It was reported by The Times on Saturday that as many as 4,000 jobs may be lost due to the impact of tariffs and a drop in sales.

The firm told the BBC it had not confirmed the numbers. It said the decision to cut jobs was to help “simplify” the organisation as well as “improve efficiency and build greater resilience”.

“Today, we informed our colleagues, and trade union partners that JLR is opening a voluntary redundancy programme offering salaried and management team members the opportunity to leave the business,” a spokesperson said.

“We will share further information with our colleagues first.”

Unite general secretary. Sharon Graham. said the union had been warning about a “perfect storm” hanging over the automotive industry for some time.

“Death by a thousand cuts has been going on under the nose of successive governments,” she said.

She added there had been “intensive” discussions over the weekend about mitigating jobs losses adding that she and Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, would be meeting JLR’s chief executive, PB Balaji, next week.

“This is an incredibly worrying and stressful time for JLR workers,” said Unite national officer, Des Quinn. “Unite is working round the clock to deliver the best possible outcome.”

Meanwhile a government spokesperson said significant action had been taken to support the UK automotive industry by lowering electricity bills for manufacturers as well as financial support for the manufacture and sale of zero emission vehicles.

Reynolds was also understood to have spoken with West Midlands mayor, Richard Parker, about supporting the business and its staff.

JLR said over the past three years, it had strengthened its brands and had prepared for production of its next generation of vehicles.

In July, the company said it expected fewer than 300 people would leave the firm under cost savings plans announced at the time.

The company has its global headquarters at Whitley, Coventry, and manufacturing sites in Solihull and Wolverhampton as well as Halewood on Merseyside.

It employs about 30,000 people in its UK operations, with approximately 10,000 people employed at plants overseas.

The cyber attack in September 2025 led to the shut down of all manufacturing at JLR for several weeks, meaning not a single vehicle rolled off its production lines.

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

The overall cost of the cyber-attack and the subsequent loss of manufacturing was estimated to be £1.9bn.

In June, the firm announced it planned to cut about £1.7bn in costs over the coming years to help towards its recovery from the attack.

JLR had indicated at the time that it would make the savings through cuts in areas such as materials, warranty and fixed costs.

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