7:25 am, June 8, 2024
Lithia Motors – the American owners of Pendragon’s dealerships in the UK has announced swathing job cuts in an attempt to save $150m.
The American business announced the cost cutting drive this week which is expected to target ‘under performing general managers’.
Lithia’s Jordan Jaramillo said the firm will not be making blanket cuts but instead targeting the layoffs in an interview on Thursday.
The company is attempting to line up annual savings that will total more than $250m by reducing general expenses.
The firm has said the cuts will not be targeting senior vice presidents or ‘C-suite executives’ in the cuts, saying redundancies will be made at car dealership levels.
It is believed the cuts are mainly focussed on the US, but when asked if UK dealerships were affected Lithia did not respond to a request for comment.
CBT News reported Lithia was implementing a ‘60-day plan’ of cost saving measures in an attempt for the cuts to make an impact on its results by the third quarter.
The website said the firm had already axed six members of its 13-person internal communications team.
Lithia snapped up Pendragon’s car dealerships and leasing business after a bidding war that saw the American firm pay £397m for the UK showrooms.
In April, Lithia took the axe to its CarStore used car supermarket brand and with it some 250 jobs were axed.
Some 16 CarStore sites were closed as Lithia blamed a ‘collapse in supply of used cars’ as the cause.
Lookers, Pendragon and Inchcape have all had their UK car dealership assets snapped up in recent times by American and Canadian businesses.
