Bentley to cut quarter of workforce

Bentley is to cut a quarter of its workforce, capping a tumultuous period that has triggered the loss of 5,000 jobs across the UK car industry. Report informs citing the Financial Times.

The luxury carmaker, based in Crewe, north-west England, will shed 1,000 of its 4,200 workers as it tries to rein in costs after a two-month closure of its facilities, announced on Friday.

The blow to the auto manufacturer comes within days of Aston Martin, McLaren, and dealer group Lookers shedding more than 3,000 jobs between them.

Last month Arlington Automotive, based in Coventry in the West Midlands, entered administration, placing 600 roles at risk. Simultaneously, smaller suppliers Sertec, Envision, and Nifco, shed almost 800 jobs between them, according to calculations from the Unite union.

The industry is braced for further losses among manufacturers and their retailers as the economic impact of the coronavirus shutdowns reverberate across the sector.

“We’ve done everything possible to compensate for a seven-week shutdown,” Bentley chief executive Adrian Hallmark told the Financial Times, adding that the company may well fall to a loss this year because of the crisis.

“We have had 25 percent of our revenue gone already, and we only have half a year left to catch it back up, so it is going to be tough to make any reasonable profit this year,” he said.

About half of the company’s personnel have returned to work, with an estimated 1,500 working from home and a further 500 still on the government’s furlough scheme. The job cuts are likely to affect all parts of the business. “It’s not as binary as saying if you’re furloughed, you’re out,” Mr. Hallmark said.