British car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced huge quarterly pre-tax losses of £264m, blaming China tariffs, Brexit and the slump in diesel sales.
Though the Midlands based firm has only seen a year on year drop in sales of five per cent, with 131,560 vehicles sold in from April, May and June, the drop has affected overall revenue for the group, with the last quarter down 6.7 per cent year on year.
It is JLR’s first quarterly loss in three years and comes at a time when the company announced that due to a drop in demand they were losing 1,000 agency staff from its Solihull plant. JLR have also stated that they are taking production of the Land Rover Discovery to Slovakia.
Chief executive Ralf Speth said: "We had a pre-tax loss in the first quarter, reflecting the impact of the announcement of the duty reduction in China as well as planned dealer stock reductions in the quarter.
"We also continue to be impacted negatively by uncertainty over diesels in Europe along with Brexit and additional diesel taxes in UK.
"Given these issues, we will remain focused on driving growth and simultaneously reducing costs and boosting operational efficiency and capability, taking the necessary steps to shape our future.
"We expect sales and financial results to improve over the remainder of the financial year, driven by continued ramp-up of new models, most recently the electric Jaguar I-Pace, and with the new lower duties effective in China."
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