Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda has confirmed plans to cut its workforce by up to another fifth as it looks to save around £40 million after widening losses. The British manufacturer, which revealed earlier this month it was consulting on the latest redundancy programme, said it would reduce its workforce by up to 20% after action at the start of last year that cut 170 jobs.
The luxury carmaker, known for its association with the James Bond film series, in its latest annual report had just under 3,000 staff, suggesting cuts may affect more than 500 workers. Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said cutting staff was “only part of the puzzle, as these initiatives can only be taken so far". The expert added: "Long-term success will rely on reversing the group’s declining sales volumes and benefitting from the improved efficiencies that a greater output would bring. Cutting the workforce so drastically makes a significant ramp-up in volumes hard to achieve, and the road ahead remains a difficult one to navigate for Aston Martin.”
The group said on Wednesday: "Having undertaken at the start of 2025 a process to make organisational adjustments to ensure the business was appropriately resourced for its future plans, we had to take the difficult decision at the end of 2025 to implement further changes. This latest programme will ultimately see the departure of up to 20% of our valued workforce."
Details of the jobs cull came as it reported widened pre-tax losses of £363.9 million for 2025 against losses of £289.1 million the previous year as trading came under pressure from US tariff hikes and weak demand.
Pressure on the carmaker has intensified as global trade disputes have escalated.
Over the past year, the company’s wholesale shipments dropped by 10% to 5,448 vehicles, signalling a sharp slowdown in demand and distribution. This decline fed directly into its financial results: revenue fell by 21 per cent to £1.3bn, and that downturn in sales dragged profits down by 37% to £370m.
UK car manufacturing suffered a dramatic setback last May, hitting its lowest output since 1949, largely because American trade policy suddenly closed off a crucial export route.
When the US administration introduced steep tariffs on foreign-made cars, British manufacturers such as Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover halted shipments bound for the American market from April.
That disruption didn’t just dent sales; it created a ripple effect across production lines, leaving factories operating far below capacity and exposing how vulnerable the industry was to abrupt shifts in global trade rules.