Bentley to axe hundreds of UK jobs as profits dip


Bentley has announced that approximately 275 roles are under threat as it embarks on a significant company restructure.

The luxury car manufacturer group โ€“ which makes its cars in Crewe, Cheshire โ€“ said the roles were set to be impacted as it carries out an “organisational adjustment” to help make savings.

These cuts, accounting for around 6 per cent of its 4,600-strong workforce, are set to affect management, agency, and non-manufacturing employees.

Bentley chairman and chief executive Frank-Steffen Walliser said: โ€œWe are making some difficult decisions to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the business, including an organisational adjustment potentially impacting approximately 275 positions.

โ€œI want to express my sincere appreciation to those affected โ€“ we are committed to supporting each individual with care, guidance and assistance throughout this transition.โ€

The planned job losses were revealed as Bentley announced a 42% drop in annual operating profits to 216 million euros (ยฃ186.6 million) as it said it faced โ€œa challenging global market environmentโ€.

The Bentley Motors factory in Crewe, Cheshire (PA)

The Bentley Motors factory in Crewe, Cheshire (PA)

It said its performance came under pressure due to higher costs from changes at its parent company Volkswagen and a hit from US tariffs.

The cuts will impact 150 jobs at Bentleyโ€™s Crewe plant, according to the GMB trade union.

Karen Lewis, GMB organiser, said: โ€œThese cuts have come out of the blue and the workforce is stunned.

โ€œTrumpโ€™s tariffโ€™s have hit Bentley hard and the company is still feeling the affects of the Covid lockdown.

โ€œGMB will stand side by side with members in Bentley to ensure the minimum redundancies and the maximum payouts.โ€

Luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin Lagonda recently announced it poised to cut nearly 600 jobs, equating to up to a fifth of its global workforce, as the company confronts widening annual losses.

Luxury carmaker Bentley has warned around 275 jobs are at risk as part of a company restructure

Luxury carmaker Bentley has warned around 275 jobs are at risk as part of a company restructure (Alamy/PA)

The significant reduction, impacting up to 20 per cent of its 2,800 employees worldwide, follows a previous round of 170 redundancies announced at the beginning of last year.

The luxury marque confirmed the plans after revealing in February that it was consulting on the latest redundancy programme.

In a statement, Aston Martin said: โ€œHaving 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.

โ€œThis latest programme will ultimately see the departure of up to 20 per cent of our valued workforce.โ€

It said the redundancies came as part of aims to cut costs by around ยฃ40 million, most of which would be stripped out this year.

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