Bentley to cut 1,000 UK jobs to contain fallout from coronavirus crisis

The British luxury carmaker plans to reduce headcount through voluntary measures but “cannot rule out future compulsory redundancies,” the Crewe-based manufacturer said Friday in a statement.

Bentley Motors plans to slash as many as 1,000 jobs in the U.K., about a quarter of its workforce, to cope with the fallout of the coronavirus crisis after years of weak profitability.

A woman wearing a face mask walks by a Bentley car showroom on Berkeley Square, London, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London. (REUTERS)

The British luxury carmaker plans to reduce headcount through voluntary measures but “cannot rule out future compulsory redundancies,” the Crewe-based manufacturer said Friday in a statement.

Bentley, part of Volkswagen AG since 1998, has been struggling to improve earnings amid persistent uncertainty over Brexit. It reported 65 million euros ($74 million) in operating profit last year as global deliveries rose 5% to 11,006 cars, after suffering a 288 million-euro loss in 2018. The workforce reduction echoes cutbacks announced by industry peers from Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC to Renault SA.

The U.S. and the U.K., two key sales regions for Bentley, have been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 outbreak.